The Role of Culturally Appropriate Mediated Communication Strategies to Reduce Hepatitis B and Liver Cancer Disparities.

Asian, Pacific Islander, African, and Caribbean communities in the U.S. are heavily impacted by chronic hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Educating these groups about the link between the two diseases is imperative to improve screening rates and health outcomes. This study aims to identify and incorporate preferred mediated communication methods into community-specific educational campaigns which emphasize the connection between the conditions, to promote uptake of prevention and management behaviors for HBV and HCC. Fifteen focus groups and two key informant interviews were conducted with Micronesian, Chinese, Hmong, Nigerian, Ghanaian, Vietnamese, Korean, Somali, Ethiopian, Filipino, Haitian, and Francophone West African communities. Data were analyzed using thematic coding and analysis. Findings demonstrate that all communities preferred materials be offered in both English and native languages and requested that materials highlight the connection between HBV and HCC. Delivery channel preferences and messaging themes varied by group. This study provides insight into community-specific preferences for learning about HBV and HCC. The findings can be used to design culturally and linguistically tailored, multi-platform, health education campaigns to facilitate improved HBV screening and vaccination rates and increase knowledge about HCC risk among highly impacted communities in the U.S.

Should Communication Campaigns Promoting Vaccination Address Misinformation Beliefs? Implications from a Nationally Representative Longitudinal Survey Study among U.S. Adults.

Public health communication campaign planners must carefully consider whether misinformation beliefs are important to target and, ideally, correct. Guided by the reasoned action approach, we hypothesized that behavior-specific beliefs regarding COVID-19 vaccination would account for any observed relationship between general coronavirus misinformation beliefs (misinformation beliefs that are not specific to the anticipated consequences of COVID-19 vaccination) and subsequent vaccine uptake. To test our hypothesis, we used panel data from a two-wave nationally representative sample of U.S. adults pre- and post-vaccine availability (T1: July 2020, T2: April/June 2021, analytic sample: n = 665). Contrary to our hypothesis, we find a residual observed relationship between general coronavirus misinformation beliefs and subsequent vaccine uptake (AOR = 0.40, SE = 0.10). Intriguingly, our post-hoc analyses do show that after also adjusting for T2 behavioral beliefs, this association was no longer significant. With this and other justifications, we recommend that messages promoting vaccination prioritize targeting relevant behavioral beliefs.

Which messages about healthy and sustainable eating resonate best with consumers with low socio-economic status?

Consumers with low socioeconomic status (SES) eat less healthy and sustainable diets than consumers with higher status. This is attributed, at least in part, to inequalities in health communication. An online survey with 134 socioeconomically disadvantaged consumers in Italy was conducted to test the effectiveness of tailor-made communication material (infographics) about healthy and sustainable eating (HSE). Participants were recruited at two social supermarkets by a social service organisation as well as via a crowdsourcing platform. Participants found information about HSE delivered through infographics moderately effective in increasing motivation, capability, and opportunity for HSE, and moderately useful and likely to impact their behaviour. Certain messages were more effective than others for native consumers, while migrants showed more indifferent responses to the various messages and manifested lower motivation to shift towards HSE, limited access to and seeking of nutrition-related information, and lower trust in information sources. Selecting which messages to deliver strategically, while also considering differences between segments of the target audience and their preferred sources and channels for communication, is promising; yet, structural changes related to food's affordability and availability are also needed to facilitate an effective communication.

Public's preferences for health science popularization short videos in China: a discrete choice experiment.

Background: Health science popularization short video disseminates health information to the public in an understandable way about health information. Objective: To investigate the preferences of Chinese residents for health science popularization short videos and provide suggestions for optimizing the production of short videos. Methods: An online survey of Chinese people was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire, and a discrete choice experiment (DCE) was used to explore the public's preferences for health science popularization short videos. Results: A total of 618 respondents were included, of which 306 (45.51%) were male and 312 (50.49%) were female, 271 (43.85%) were aged 18-25, 239 (38.67%) were aged 26-60, and 108 (17.48%) were aged 60 and above. Whether the video is charged or not (46.891%) and the account subject (28.806%) were both considered important. The results of the DCE revealed that the participants considered video free of charge as the most significant attribute of health science popularization short videos (OR 3.433, 95% CI 3.243-3.633). Overall, participants preferred and were more willing to pay for health science popularization short videos with a hospital account subject (OR 1.192, 95% CI 1.116-1.274), with the form of graphic narration (OR 1.062, 95% CI 1.003-1.126), free of charge (OR 3.433, 95% CI 3.243-3.633), with the content that satisfies their needs (very much needed: OR 1.253, 95% CI 95% CI 1.197-1.311; generally needed: OR 1.078, 95% CI 1.029-1.129), with platform certification (OR 1.041, 95% CI 1.011-1.073), without commercial advertisements (OR 1.048, 95% CI 1.018-1.080), with simple-to-understand content (OR 1.071, 95% CI 1.040-1.104), and with video content that evokes fear or dread of illness in the viewer (OR 1.046, 95% CI 1.015-1.078). Conclusion: Participants favor free health popularization short videos, which are hospital accounts, with content that is illustrated, understandable, meets their needs, and can serve as a warning. In the future, the production of health popularization short videos should focus on improving the diversity and relevance of video content, making it as easy to understand to achieve good science popularization effects.

AI Chatbots, Health Privacy, and Challenges to HIPAA Compliance.

This Viewpoint examines the privacy concerns raised by medical uses of large language models, such as chatbots.

Qualidade da comunicação promotora da saúde: como avaliar? Proposta de instrumento de avaliação de campanhas de prevenção de infecções sexualmente transmissíveis (ISTs) / Evaluating the effectiveness of health communication: a proposed tool for evaluating sexually transmitted infections (STI) prevention campaigns / Calidad de la comunicación promotora de la salud: ¿cómo evaluarla? Propuesta de instrumento de evaluación de campañas de prevención de infecciones de transmision sexual (ITSs)

O que pode ser considerado comunicação de qualidade para a promoção da saúde e da prevenção de ISTs entre jovens? Este artigo apresenta uma proposta de metodologia de pesquisa para avaliar a qualidade de peças produzidas no contexto de campanhas de comunicação pública, tais como vídeos, cartazes, folhetos, mídias sonoras e impressas, postagens em redes sociais on-line etc. Os indicadores utilizados para determinar parâmetros de qualidade foram extraídos da literatura especializada e sistematizados em um roteiro de avaliação, com sete blocos temáticos articulados em torno de proposições normativas. Neste artigo, caracterizamos tal roteiro, sua fundamentação e sua forma de aplicação, que buscam responder ao desafio de determinar o que é qualidade em teoria e prática na comunicação promotora da saúde. Trata-se de um instrumento objetivo sobre corpora extensos que pode ser aplicado por pesquisadores individuais ou equipes.(AU)

What constitutes effective communication for health promotion and the prevention of STI among young people? This article proposes a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of public publicity campaign pieces, such as videos, posters, leaflets, audio and print media, and social media posts. The indicators used to determine effectiveness were taken from the specialist literature and systematized in the form of an evaluation guide consisting of seven thematic blocks structured around normative propositions. This article describes the guide, the rationale behind it, and its application as a health communication tool for determining effectiveness in theory and practice. The guide provides an objective tool that can be applied by individual researchers or teams to a broad range of corpora.(AU)

¿Qué es lo que puede considerarse comunicación de calidad para la promoción de la salud y de la prevención de ITSs entre jóvenes? Este artículo presenta una propuesta de metodología de investigación para evaluar la cantidad de piezas producidas en el contexto de campañas de comunicación pública, tales como videos, carteles, folletos, medios sonoros e impresos, posteos en redes sociales online etc. Los indicadores utilizados para determinar parámetros de calidad se extrajeron de la literatura especializada y se sistematizaron en un guion de evaluación, con siete bloques temáticos articulados alrededor de propuestas normativas. En este artículo, caracterizamos ese guion, su fundamentación y forma de aplicación, que buscan responder al desafío en la comunicación promotora de la salud, de determinar lo que es calidad en teoría y práctica. Se trata de un instrumento objetivo y que pueden aplicarlo investigadores individuales o equipos sobre corpus extensos.(AU)

The influence of valence shifts in fear appeals on message processing and behavioral intentions: A moderated mediation model.

Newer approaches in health communication research indicate that understanding the flow of emotional experiences during exposure to fear appeals can clarify their persuasive effects. In a laboratory experiment, the impact of valence shifts during exposure to fear appeals on determinants of health-relevant behaviors were examined. Continuous response measurement allowed gathering real-time data about participants' experiences of valence shifts during exposure. Among the results, a shift from negative to positive valence promoted efficacy perceptions but only for people being personally affected by the health issue. Perceived efficacy, in turn, increased intentions to put recommended behaviors into practice. This suggests that inducing positive valence shifts in health messages improves their effectiveness, especially for relevant target groups.

The COVID-19 Vaccine and the Black Community: Addressing the Justified Questions.

Established in 2019, the Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in STEM convenes a broad array of stakeholders that focus on the barriers and opportunities encountered by Black men and Black women as they navigate the pathways from K-12 and postsecondary education to careers in science, engineering, and medicine. Through meetings, public workshops, and publications, the Roundtable advances discussions that raise awareness and/or highlight promising practices for increasing the representation, retention, and inclusiveness of Black men and Black women in STEM. In keeping with the charge of the Roundtable, Roundtable leadership and leaders of the COVID-19 action group conducted an informational video in January 2021 to provide an in-depth discussion around common, justified questions in the Black community pertaining to the COVID-19 vaccine. The manuscript addresses selected questions and answers relating to the different types of COVID-19 vaccines and their development, administration, and effectiveness. Discussion focuses on addressing vaccine misconceptions, misinformation, mistrust, and hesitancy; challenges in prioritizing vaccinations in diverse populations and communities; dealing with racism in medicine and public health; optimizing communication and health education; and offering practical strategies and recommendations for improving vaccine acceptance by clinicians, health care workers, and the Black community. This manuscript summarizes the content in the YouTube video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdEC9c48A_k ).

Ten years of weekly epidemiological teleconference (EpiLag) - an effective and time-efficient tool for infectious disease event information, Germany, 2009-2018.

In 2009, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and the 16 German federal state public health authorities (PHAs) established a weekly epidemiological teleconference (EpiLag) to discuss infectious disease (ID) events and foster horizontal and vertical information exchange. We present the procedure, discussed ID topics and evaluation results of EpiLag after 10 years. We analysed attendance, duration of EpiLag and the frequency of reported events. Participants (RKI and state PHA) were surveyed regarding their satisfaction with logistics, contents and usefulness of EpiLag (Likert scales). Between 2009 and 2018, RKI hosted 484 EpiLag conferences with a mean duration of 25 min (range: 4-60) and high participation (range: 9-16; mean: 15 PHAs). Overall, 2975 ID events (39% international, 9% national and 52% subnational) were presented (mean: 6.1 per EpiLag), most frequently on measles (18%), salmonellosis (8%) and influenza (5%). All responding participants (14/16 PHAs and 9/9 at RKI) were satisfied with the EpiLag's organization and minutes and deemed EpiLag useful for an overview and information distribution on ID events relevant to Germany. EpiLag is time efficient, easily applicable and useful for a low-threshold event communication. It supports PHAs in crises and strengthens the network of surveillance stakeholders. We recommend its implementation to other countries or sectors.

The Framing of COVID-19 in Italian Media and Its Relationship with Community Mobility: A Mixed-Method Approach.

Media framing of epidemics was found to influence public perceptions and behaviors in experiments, yet no research has been conducted on real-world behaviors during public health crises. We examined the relationship between Italian news media coverage of COVID-19 and compliance with stay-at-home orders, which could impact the spread of epidemics. We used a computational method for framing analysis (ANTMN) and combined it with Google's Community Mobility data. A time-series analysis using vector autoregressive models showed that the Italian media used media frames that were largely congruent with ones used by journalists in other countries: A scientific frame focusing on symptoms and health effects, a containment frame focusing on attempts to ameliorate risks, and a social frame, focusing on political and social impact. The prominence of different media frames over time was associated with changes in Italians' mobility patterns. Specifically, we found that the social frame was associated with increased mobility, whereas the containment frame was associated with decreased mobility. The results demonstrate that the ways the news media discuss epidemics can influence changes in community mobility, above and beyond the effect of the number of deaths per day.

Targeting Physical Inactivity - Effects of Three Different Consequence Frames on Population Subgroups' Health-Related Perceptions and Behavioral Intentions.

Physical inactivity constitutes a major health problem in many Western societies affecting a variety of social groups. As these groups often differ in responsivity to physical inactivity messages, the strategy of message targeting, i.e. the customization of messages toward shared characteristics of a social group provides a useful framework for designing effective communication. Whereas focusing on health consequences of physical inactivity might prove useful for some social groups, it might be more effective to emphasize its social or financial consequences for others. The current examination compares the effects of three types of consequence framing (health consequences vs. social consequences vs. financial consequences of physical inactivity) on health-related perceptions and intentions for different population subgroups. An experiment with a one-factorial between subjects design based on a quota sample was conducted. 348 respondents differing in terms of age, sex, and formal education were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental conditions and read an accordingly manipulated newspaper article. Findings show that financial and social consequence frames were more effective than health consequence frames. Both frames positively influenced behavioral intentions through perceptions of susceptibility. These effects were largely independent of sociodemographic variables, although sex and education emerged as moderators in some cases.

Health coaching: a necessary role for medical students?

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to discuss the strong rationale for training medical students in health coaching and explain the structure of a planned programme at the University of Cambridge. STUDY DESIGN: This is a perspective piece. METHODS: This article explores the concept of health coaching and evidence for the approach and argues for its necessity within our future National Health Service (NHS). The structure of the planned programme at the University of Cambridge is explained. RESULTS: Training in health coaching gives clinicians tools and techniques based on psychology, behavioural science and performance coaching to add to their communication skills. This results in person-centred care and improved health behaviour outcomes for patients. Training medical students in the field means they are able to develop the techniques throughout their training and meaningfully contribute to high-quality patient care as part of the wider medical team during their studies. CONCLUSIONS: We believe training medical students in health coaching skills is paramount to ensure the skills of our future workforce keeps pace with the NHS system and population needs.

Breast Radiology Advocacy: Responding to the Call-to-Action.

In an increasingly competitive and passionate health care environment, radiology advocacy is imperative, now more than ever. Arguably, it is particularly more crucial in the world of breast cancer, as we as a breast cancer community are tirelessly assembling to advocate for our patients on a variety of levels, whether it is including but not limited to, breast cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment, access-to-care, education, or research funding. As breast radiologists, it is no longer simply enough to clock in our normal work hours; we must ALL make a concerted effort to vociferously advocate for our patients and profession.

Development and Assessment of a Pictographic Pediatric Constipation Action Plan.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the Uniformed Services Constipation Action Plan (USCAP) as an evidence-based, personalized, clinical action tool with pictograms to aid clinicians and families in the management of functional constipation. STUDY DESIGN: The USCAP facilitates the management functional constipation by using a health literacy-informed approach to provide instructions for pharmacotherapies and lifestyle modifications. This study included part 1 (pictogram validation) and part 2 (assessment). For part 1, pictogram transparency, translucency, and recall were assessed by parent survey (transparency ≥85%, mean translucency score ≥5, recall ≥85% required for validation). For part 2, the USCAP was assessed by parents, clinical librarians, and clinicians. Parental perceptions (n = 65) were assessed using the Consumer Information Rating Form (17 questions) to gauge comprehensibility, design quality and usefulness. Readability was assessed by 5 formulas and a Readability Composite Score was calculated. Clinical librarians (n = 3) used the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool to measure understandability (19 questions) and actionability (7 questions) (>80% rating was acceptable). Suitability was assessed by clinicians (n = 34) using Doak's Suitability Assessment of Materials (superior ≥70% rating). RESULTS: All 12 pictograms demonstrated appropriate transparency, translucency, and recall. Parental perceptions reflected appropriate comprehensibility, design quality, and usefulness. The Readability Composite Score was consistent with a fifth-grade level. Clinical librarians reported acceptable understandability and actionability. Clinicians reported superior suitability. CONCLUSIONS: The USCAP met all criteria for clinical implementation and future study of USCAP implementation for treating children with chronic functional constipation.

Countering demand for ineffective health remedies: Do consumers respond to risks, lack of benefits, or both?

OBJECTIVE: We tested whether targeting the illusion of causality and/or misperceptions about health risks had the potential to reduce consumer demand for an ineffective health remedy (multivitamin supplements). DESIGN: We adopted a 2 (contingency information: no/yes) × 2 (fear appeal: no/yes) factorial design, with willingness-to-pay as the dependent variable. The contingency information specified, in table format, the number of people reporting a benefit vs. no benefit from both multivitamins and placebo, plus a causal explanation for lack of efficacy over placebo. The fear appeal involved a summary of clinical-trial results that indicated multivitamins can cause health harms. The control condition received only irrelevant information. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Experimental auctions measured people's willingness-to-pay for multivitamins. Experiment 1 (N = 260) elicited hypothetical willingness-to-pay online. Experiment 2 (N = 207) elicited incentivised willingness-to-pay in the laboratory. RESULTS: Compared to a control group, we found independent effects of contingency information (-22%) and the fear appeal (-32%) on willingness-to-pay. The combination of both interventions had the greatest impact (-50%) on willingness-to-pay. CONCLUSION: We found evidence that consumer choices are influenced by both perceptions of efficacy and risk. The combination of both elements can provide additive effects that appear superior to either approach alone.

Toward More Effective Public Health Interventions during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Suggesting Audience Segmentation Based on Social and Media Resources.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, public health communication campaigns have been targeted at reducing viral transmission, specifically among populations most vulnerable to infection and death from the virus (e.g. older adults). However, other individuals who have not been defined as vulnerable populations may also suffer from a decrease in health because of the measures aimed at reducing viral transmission, such as social distancing. To illuminate this issue, we investigate the role of social and media resources in complementing limited offline communication and supporting mental and physical health during this pandemic. We then suggest an alternative audience segmentation strategy based on social and media resources for public health interventions. Based on online survey data from 723 adults in South Korea, the regression analysis results indicated that individuals with lower levels of social resources suffered more during the pandemic. The cluster analysis results revealed that, contrary to the traditional definition of vulnerable populations, a cluster of younger people were unhealthier than a cluster of older people because of a lack of social resources. Clusters with different levels of ICT skills and uses for health-related activities also experienced the pandemic differently. These findings imply public health interventions should focus on social resources beyond the demographic factors to determine target audiences, and that they should take advantage of the target audiences' media resources to encourage them to forge intimate connections with others and to engage in health-related activities.