Living kidney donor decision making and communication.

There is high demand for kidney donors in the United States, and it is widely accepted that living donation is optimal for individuals who need a kidney. Much research has focused on the potential recipient, but little has been studied about the communication and decision making of living kidney donors. Interviews assessed the communication and decision-making processes of 43 kidney donor volunteers. Almost all of the participants were not asked, but instead volunteered, to donate. The majority of donors reported having conversations with the recipient and speaking about their decisions with other individuals in their social networks besides the recipient. Some participants said that they stopped talking to others because of negative feedback. Future research should further examine the communication of donors with non-recipient others and potential methods of training recipients and donors to communicate effectively about the donation process.

A systematic review of e-health interventions for physical activity: an analysis of study design, intervention characteristics, and outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: This systematic literature review of e-health interventions targeting physical activity (PA) from January 2006 to November 2010 provides an updated and critical picture of the state of e-health as a facilitator for PA interventions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic search yielded 31 articles that fit into the inclusion/exclusion criteria, which were analyzed in terms of study design quality, intervention characteristics, and support for e-health in PA interventions. RESULTS: The included articles met most of the study design criteria, but many did not isolate e-health technologies or use power analyses to calculate sample sizes. The interventions reflected a variety of technologies, audiences, and methods, and showed consistent use of theoretical frameworks to guide the interventions. Results regarding support for e-health's effectiveness in PA interventions were mixed and cannot provide definite conclusions. Only seven studies used pure control groups, and of those, four demonstrated support for e-health but the others showed no significant differences. The majority of studies using comparison groups showed no significant differences between conditions. No notable patterns emerged among the studies that did show support for e-health. CONCLUSIONS: Future research should utilize more rigorous methods that allow for better comparison across studies, such as power analyses, pure control groups, and objective PA measurements, which could lead to more definitive results regarding e-health's effectiveness for PA interventions.

Action tendency emotions evoked by memorable breast cancer messages and their association with prevention and detection behaviors.

Memorable messages about breast cancer sent by different sources, such as friends and family members, were analyzed for the action tendency emotions that they evoked. Negative emotions of fear, sadness, and anger, and positive emotions of hope and relief were analyzed for their associations with prevention and detection breast cancer behaviors. Messages that evoked fear were significantly more likely to be associated with detection behaviors, whereas messages that evoked relief were significantly less likely to be associated with detection behaviors than messages that did not evoke these emotions. These results are consistent with control theory and also show that friends and family are important sources of memorable messages about breast cancer.

An independent investigation into the deployment of the federal communications commissions' rural health care pilot program.

OBJECTIVE: the goal of this study was to provide an independent and objective evaluation of the implementation of the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Health Care Pilot Program. MATERIALS AND METHODS: thirty-nine of the programs that were provided funding through this program were interviewed and asked about their project deployment, network planning, and the involvement of their state in implementation. RESULTS: RESULTS showed that programs recruited project team members from a variety of fields to fulfill different roles. Network partners were often chosen because they were stakeholders in the outcome of the project and because they had a past working relationship with the grant-receiving programs. In terms of deployment, many programs had made progress in filling out necessary paperwork and were tracking milestones, but had experienced changes since first receiving funding, such as losing participants. Additionally, many encountered challenges that inhibited deployment, such as coping with rule fluctuations. Many of the programs received support from their respective state governments in project development, often through matching funds, but few states were involved in the actual management of projects. CONCLUSIONS: as rural healthcare facilities often lack the information technology infrastructure compared with many urban facilities, it is important to understand the implementation process for programs such as the Rural Health Care Pilot Program and to examine what contributes to progress, stagnation, or disintegration. Although the programs reported some success, almost all had encountered challenges that inhibited implementation. A follow-up study is planned to further investigate deployment and determine the implications of Federal Communications Commission funding.

Communication Assessment of the Most Frequented Breast Cancer Websites: Evaluation of Design and Theoretical Criteria.

The internet is a prominent source of health information for the public. This research evaluated both basic use and design tenets and the presence of theoretical components to motivate healthy breast cancer behavior for users of the most frequented breast cancer websites. METHODOLOGY: Each website was evaluated with 2 sets of questions. The first attends to the basic use and design tenets of the website. The second coding form assessed the websites use of 3 behavior change theories. RESULTS: The majority of the websites fared well with regards to their use of basic tenet and design principles. Theoretical components were used sparingly on the majority of websites. DISCUSSION: The most frequented breast cancer websites are currently well equipped with basic use and design tenets. However, their lack of behavioral change components is likely to impede users' motivations to protect themselves against breast cancer.

An Initial Investigation into Naturally Occurring Loss- and Gain-Framed Memorable Breast Cancer Messages.

Memorable message research examines interpersonal messages "…remembered for extremely long periods of time and which people perceive as a major influence on the course of their lives" (Knapp, Stohl, & Reardon, 1981, p. 27). They can also guide actions, such as health behaviors. This exploratory research examined self-reported memorable messages about breast cancer to determine if they were framed, emphasizing either the benefits (gain-framed) or the costs (loss-framed) of a behavior. About one-fourth of the messages were framed, with most being gain-framed. The messages tended to emphasize early detection actions. Study limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

An examination into audience targeting and the use of storytelling or statistical evidence on breast cancer websites.

OBJECTIVE: This research sought to address the presence of information targeting low literacy, racially diverse, non-English speaking, and age diverse audiences on breast cancer websites. In addition, this study documented the utilization of evidence strategies, either statistics or storytelling, for these audiences. METHODS: This research examined these relationships on 157 breast cancer websites through content analysis. RESULTS: Nearly half of websites did not contain any of the elements targeting diverse literacy, racial/ethnic, language, and age audiences. Websites with multiple languages were more likely than monolingual websites to use statistics, and websites with low literacy sections were less likely than others to do so. Websites with ethnic or racial diversity and age diversity were more likely than other websites to use first person storytelling about breast cancer. CONCLUSION: Current breast cancer websites demonstrate promising use of targeting specific audiences and employing evidence strategies prescribed as effective by past research, however there is room for improvement. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Tip sheets for incorporating audience targeting, readability, and storytelling should be created for health organizations to use in the process of developing their websites, as these constructs were found only sparingly on the assessed sites.

Topics and sources of memorable breast cancer messages and their impact on prevention and detection behaviors.

Often, people are able to recall a message on a particular topic for a long period of time. These memorable messages have the ability to influence behavior when they are recalled from memory long after initial exposure. Knowing the topics and sources of the messages that are remembered about breast cancer can improve the efficacy of future breast cancer outreach. To this end, 359 women completed an online survey about memorable breast cancer messages. Most women (60%) recalled a memorable message, described it, identified its source, and noted whether it had resulted in prevention or detection behaviors. Four categories of message topics emerged: early detection (37.3%), awareness (30.9%), treatment (25.8%), and prevention (6%). Furthermore, five categories of sources of these memorable messages were found: media (35.5%), friends (22.2%), family (21.6%), medical professionals (15.2%), and others (5.5%). The media were a major source of all four topics of messages, although family members, friends, and the medical community were major sources for particular message topics as well. Memorable messages originating from medical professionals were substantially more likely to motivate detection behaviors than prevention behaviors. This research demonstrates that message topic and source both play roles in determining message recall as well as in determining how memorable messages impacted behavior.