Challenges in Media Attention toward COVID-19-Preventive Behaviors: Dual Roles of Threat and Perceived Capability for Information Systems and Health Care.

Based on the extended parallel process model, this study investigated the relationship between young adults' media exposure to COVID-19 and their adoption of protective behaviors. This study surveyed 141 college students and found that increased risk perceptions led to greater intentions to engage in COVID-19-preventive behaviors and that these intentions were mediated by normative beliefs. There was no significant difference in risk perceptions between traditional media and social media.

Does Organizational Messaging Make a Difference? Investigating Themes and Language Style in Twitter Discourse and Engagement by Mental Health Organizations.

The present study investigated the latent topics and language styles present in mental health organizational discourse on Twitter. The researchers sought to analyze identifying the prevalence of and language used in social support messaging in tweets about mental health care, the overarching topics regarding mental health care, and predicted that tweets with higher engagement will have increased frequency of words with positively valenced emotion and cognitive processing. A GSDMM was run to uncover latent themes that emerged in a data set of 326.

Finding the Invisible Leader: When Opinion Leader Identification is Impossible.

Opinion leaders are increasingly recruited to diffuse information, attitudes, and behaviors to serve communication campaigns. However, this has historically required opinion leader identification before launching the campaign. identification is impossible in many contexts, such as when addressing unfamiliar topics or insular communities.

Communication Expressed on the COVID-19 Subreddit in the Midst of a Global Pandemic.

The manner in which scientific information related to the COVID-19 pandemic has been shared and discussed in similar venues has, to date, been largely neglected. Considering the role that such discourse plays in knowledge sharing and knowledge production, it is essential to understand such communication processes as they relate to global health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study examines communication expressed by participants in the r/COVID19 subreddit, a community that facilitates scientific discussion of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Social Media as Risk-Attenuation and Misinformation-Amplification Station: How Social Media Interaction Affects Misperceptions about COVID-19.

This study addresses how social media interaction affects misperceptions about COVID-19 via risk perceptions thereof and whether political orientation moderates the relationship. Using original two-wave panel survey data ( = 679), this study reveals that social media interaction increases misperception directly, as well as indirectly by reducing the extent of risk perception. The extent of risk perception is found to be a negative predictor of misperception.

"Sharing Hope and Healing": A Culturally Tailored Social Media Campaign to Promote Living Kidney Donation and Transplantation Among Native Americans.

In this article, the authors discuss a community-based participatory research (CBPR)-driven and culturally tailored social media campaign to promote living kidney donation and transplantation (LKDT) serving Native American communities, who are disproportionately burdened by kidney failure. The effort represents a collaboration among researchers, tribal leaders and community members, medical centers, and other stakeholders to facilitate health promotion related to LKDT among the broader Native American community. Campaign objectives were collaboratively established by the researchers and stakeholders, and the campaign approach and materials were likewise developed in consultation with the community.

Oral Healthcare Implications of Dedicated Online Communities: A Computational Content Analysis of the r/Dentistry Subreddit.

The current study explores communication expressed by participants in a subreddit surrounding oral health care, moderated by dentists and dental hygienists. The corpus was analyzed through Leximancer, a computer-assisted program used for computational content analyses of large data sets. Users' personal disclosures about ongoing dental concerns, advice about others' self-care, and the role of interpersonal communication with and among health care providers emerged as dominant themes.

Native Americans' Memorable Conversations About Living Kidney Donation and Transplant.

Living kidney donation and transplant (LKDT) offers a path of hope for patients on indefinite dialysis treatment. However, identification of a living donor can be challenging; initiating these conversations is difficult. Our study analyzes memorable conversations about LKDT that occurred in response to an LKDT campaign targeted to Native Americans.

Behavioral determinants for vaccine acceptability among rurally located college students.

College-aged adults in a rural and medically-underserved area often struggle to receive proper vaccinations due to lower socioeconomic status coupled with life demands. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used as the theoretical basis to explore behavioral determinants associated with vaccination uptake in the population. This study used a questionnaire distributed to college students ( = 208) located in a rural area to assess the effects of social and behavioral factors on vaccination uptake.

eHealth Literacy and Health Behaviors Affecting Modern College Students: A Pilot Study of Issues Identified by the American College Health Association.

Background: The eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) has been widely adopted by researchers to understand how eHealth literacy can be put into context. eHealth researchers need to know how to promote positive health behavior changes across college students, given the importance of the Internet to acquire and use health information. The American College Health Association identified a set of key health issues that affect college students today.

Online Social Support for Participants of Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis Groups.

Thousands of people affected by or caring for someone affected by Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis participate in online social support groups today. The diseases, which are often discussed in conjunction due to being similar in nature, have no cure and yet affect over 1 million people in the United States alone. There is a need for health communication scholarship to examine the nature of the messages in Crohn's and UC groups, which can lend insight into the unique struggles and psychosocial benefits that members gain from group participation.

Theoretical implications addressing rural college students' organ donation behaviors.

The current study used the theory of planned behavior to examine rural college students' attitudes, normative beliefs, and perceived behavioral control regarding intent to register as organ donors. This effort is done in light of a need to increase intervention efforts among college students, particularly those in rural areas where these undertakings may need to be tailored in grassroots approaches. The study made use of perceived behavioral control as a moderator and found partial support for the model.

Perceived behavioral control, intention to get vaccinated, and usage of online information about the human papillomavirus vaccine.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) and the HPV vaccine have been examined through multiple lenses over the past several years, though there is little work examining the role of perceived behavioral control (PBC) and its impact on potential recipients retrieving, understanding, and using online information with regard to the vaccine. This study used survey data to examine the role of PBC as a moderator between attitudes and intention, and subjective norms (SN) and intention to get the HPV vaccine; and PBC as a moderator when seeking out Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter as information sources about HPV. Support was found for each prediction.