PUBLISHED WORK
Articles In Refereed Journals
March 06, 2024
“LET US TAKE CARE OF THE MEDICINE": A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF PHYSICIAN COMMUNICATION WHEN CARING FOR FEBRILE INFANTS
Guidelines for the management of febrile infants emphasize patient-centered communication. Although patient-centeredness is central to high-quality health care, biases may impact physicians’ patient-centeredness. We aimed to 1) identify physicians’ assumptions that inform their communication with parents of febrile infants and 2) examine physicians’ perceptions of bias. We recruited physicians from 3 academic pediatric emergency departments (EDs) for semistructured interviews. We applied a constant comparative method approach to conduct a thematic analysis of interview transcripts. Two coders followed several analytical steps: 1) discovery of concepts and code assignment, 2) identification of themes by grouping concepts, 3) axial coding to identify thematic properties, and 4) identifying exemplar excerpts for rich description. Thematic saturation was based on repetition, recurrence, and forcefulness. ED physicians described subjective assumptions about parents that informed their approach to communication when caring for febrile infants. Given the emphasis on patient-centered communication in febrile infant guidelines, future efforts are necessary to understand how assumptions are influenced by biases, the effect of such behaviors on health inequities, and how to combat this.
February 24, 2022
PRACTICING MINDFULNESS THROUGH mHEALTH APPLICATIONS:
EMERGING ADULTS’ HEALTH-ENHANCING AND INHIBITING EXPERIENCES
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) and practices (MBPs) can promote better health outcomes. Although MBIs and MBPs were developed to be delivered in-person, mobile health (mHealth) tools such as apps have made these more accessible. Mindfulness apps (MAs) are popular among emerging adults (EAs) who have the highest ownership of smartphones and who are also at risk for distress. While adverse effects have been observed with MBIs/MBPs, this has not been examined when mindfulness is practiced using apps. We interviewed EAs (n = 22) to capture their motivations for using these apps and identified health-inhibiting and enhancing experiences. Data were thematically analyzed using the constant comparative method. Motivations for app use included accessibility, convenience, and stress/health management. EAs described health-enhancing outcomes (reduced distress, improved physical symptoms, increased focus) and health-inhibiting outcomes (worsened distress, performance uncertainty, dependency development, worsened physical health). They provided suggestions for improving apps (e.g., feedback option). These findings illustrate benefits and risks that EAs may encounter when practicing mindfulness using apps, which can inform the best practices for app design.
October 02, 2017
JUST TURN ON THE FAUCET:
A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF PSAS ABOUT THE GLOBAL WATER CRISIS ON YOUTUBE
Water is essential for human life, yet safe drinking water is a limited resource. Critical to fighting the global water crisis are public awareness campaigns, including Public Service Announcements (PSAs). While YouTube has become a popular medium for disseminating prosocial content such as PSAs, environmental communication efforts on this platform remain largely uninvestigated. This study examines the content and characteristics of global water crisis PSAs on YouTube by applying two communication models: the Extended Parallel Process Model, and the Elaboration Likelihood Model. These models are used to evaluate the potential effectiveness of the PSAs. Content analysis reveals that threat messages often outweigh efficacy messages in the videos, central route processing cues are more prevalent than peripheral route cues, and a focus on quality or quantity issues differed by sponsoring organization (non-profit, for-profit, government). Implications and avenues for potential future research are discussed.
August 09, 2016
CONSTRUCTING CHOLERA: CNN IREPORT, THE HAITIAN CHOLERA EPIDEMIC, AND THE LIMITS OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM
Ten months after a catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti, the country was forced to confront what has since become the worst cholera outbreak in modern history. Haiti’s reputation as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and cholera’s stigmatization as a disease of the poor contributed to a dominant narrative in Global North news media in which the outbreak was seen not only as tragic but also inevitable. The failings in traditional news media provided a valuable opportunity for citizen journalism to elevate marginalized voices and challenge dominant narratives. Our study examines whether citizen journalism lived up to this potential through a discourse analysis of CNN iReport coverage of the Haitian cholera epidemic. Our findings demonstrate that iReport coverage failed to close the participation gap between the Global North and Global South, reproduced familiar narratives of Americans as heroes and Haitians as victims, became home to rumors and misinformation, and reproduced tropes of Haitians and cholera victims as backward and ignorant. In short, our study found that iReport coverage of Haiti’s cholera epidemic embodied the same discursive formation as that of traditional Global North news media. In closing, we argue that scholars must exercise caution when applauding citizen journalism without first critically examining citizen journalism content.