How People in Recovery Manage the Stigma of Being an Alcoholic.

Although stigma can jeopardize the recovery efforts of people who formerly misused substances, potentially leading to relapse, how people in recovery for alcoholism manage stigma has not been comprehensively or systematically examined. Using stigma management communication theory (SMC) and in-depth interviews of 22 adults in recovery, this investigation uncovered the six main strategies participants used to negotiate the stigma of being an alcoholic. Consistent with the tenets of SMC, interviewees and/or the stigma, depending on whether they accepted or challenged that the stigma of being an alcoholic applied to themselves and/or the public's perception.

Denying and Accepting a Family Member's Illness: Uncertainty Management as a Process.

Doubt is a common, yet challenging form of uncertainty to have about another's illness. Although navigating illness uncertainty is a process of continual (re)appraisal and management, existing research narrowly examines windows of uncertainty experience. To illustrate how uncertainty management in the context of doubt is recursive, nonlinear, and ongoing, we apply a process approach to communication to uncertainty management theory.

An Examination of How People Appraise and Manage Health-Related Financial Uncertainty.

While health care is one of the largest stressors across all incomes and political affiliations, it is unclear how people with health-related financial uncertainty appraise and manage this ambiguity. Using the lens of Uncertainty Management Theory (UMT) and a thematic analysis of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 17 individuals facing financial and health struggles, we uncovered how intersecting financial and medical uncertainty exacerbated participants' medical worries, worsening and compromising their mental and physical health. Additionally, we revealed how participants managed health-related financial uncertainty through seeking social support, seeking information to reduce financial burden, enacting financial concessions, making health sacrifices, avoiding information and thoughts about health costs, and adapting to chronic financial uncertainty.

How College Students Communicatively Manage Uncertainty about University Health Services.

Despite university health services' critical role in addressing students' health, students frequently underutilize on-campus healthcare, in part due to uncertainty. This study used Uncertainty Management Theory and 41 interviews with college students and health center staff and providers to uncover the types of health services uncertainty students experienced and how students used communication to manage uncertainty. Students experienced institutional uncertainty pertaining to services, logistics, and quality-of-care.

An Exploration of How Individuals with an Ostomy Communicatively Manage Uncertainty.

Individuals with an ostomy (a surgical diversion of part of the digestive tract through the abdomen) face a variety of uncertainties, due to the chronic and anatomy-altering nature of living with an ostomy, as well as the perceived stigma attached to having one. However, little is known about how these individuals negotiate uncertainty, and more specifically, how they manage the information they receive and disclose in the uncertainty management process. Thus, through 21 semi-structured interviews of individuals with an ostomy and the use of Uncertainty Management Theory as a theoretical framework, the current study found individuals with an ostomy attempted to negotiate uncertainty by managing information received and disclosed and by adapting to chronic uncertainty.

Communicatively Exploring Uncertainty Management of Parents of Children with Type 1 Diabetes.

Parents of children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) face uncertainty about the illness. This uncertainty can have negative health consequences for parents and their children. However, little is known about the types of uncertainty associated with T1D diagnosis and subsequent treatment and how this uncertainty is managed.

An Examination of How People Who Have Lost Weight Communicatively Negotiate Interpersonal Challenges to Weight Management.

The vast majority of Americans are overweight, and those who are able to lose weight typically regain at least the amount they lost. Some people are confronted with sabotage, criticism, and declines in social support during and following weight loss. However, how individuals negotiate these interpersonal barriers is not very well understood.

College Students' Drinking and Posting About Alcohol: Forwarding a Model of Motivations, Behaviors, and Consequences.

College drinking continues to remain a public health problem that has been exacerbated by alcohol-related posts on social networking sites (SNSs). Although existing research has linked alcohol consumption, alcohol posts, and adverse consequences to one another, comprehensive explanations for these associations have been largely unexplored. Thus, we reasoned that students' personal motivations (i.

How Formerly Overweight and Obese Individuals Negotiate Disclosure of Their Weight Loss.

Overweight and obese individuals frequently experience weight-based stigma, and reducing stigma is one reason people want to lose weight. However, research suggests even after individuals become a normal weight, knowledge of their old body size can result in stigma. Through interviews of 30 formerly overweight or obese individuals and the framework of Communication Privacy Management theory, this study found the vast majority of participants perceived more benefits from disclosing their larger identity than risks, regardless of weight-loss method.

"Coming out" as an alcoholic: how former problem drinkers negotiate disclosure of their nondrinking identity.

Although communication is critical for former problem drinkers to reject drinks, socialize with others, minimize stigma, and maintain their health and sobriety, recovering alcoholics' communication has not been examined beyond alcohol self-help groups. Using a Communication Privacy Management framework and in-depth, semistructured interviews, this study examined how former problem drinkers negotiate the disclosure of their nondrinking status. As participants perceived not drinking in the United States as deviant and socially risky, the investigation found participants primarily concealed their nondrinking status in order to fit in.

Weighty dynamics: exploring couples' perceptions of post-weight-loss interaction.

Although romantic couples can use communication to help one another lose weight and maintain weight loss, the effect of weight loss on partner interaction is less understood. However, an examination of the interpersonal context in which partners manage their weight is important to help partners negotiate their weight, their relationship, and the U.S.

Mother-teen communication about weight management.

Although research shows family members can influence each other's diet and exercise behaviors, the specific strategies that most effectively motivate individuals to enact healthy behaviors have not been revealed. Toward this goal, this study employed confirmation theory to assess how the quality of weight management (WM) communication between 107 mother-teen dyads was related to their diet and exercise behaviors as well as their subjective perceptions of the productivity of WM conversations. Confirmation theory proposes two components of confirmation: acceptance and challenge.

"Above the influence": how college students communicate about the healthy deviance of alcohol abstinence.

Consumption of alcohol is widespread in U.S. culture, particularly among college students.