Communication Practices Research Articles

Assessing the digital competence of in-service university educators in China: A systematic literature review

Rapid growth has been witnessed in digital technologies, resulting in significant productive changes in communication and information technology-oriented practices in different fields. Hybrid teaching or blended learning has gained progressively widespread acceptance in the educational process, and concerns about teachers' information and communication technology (ICT) competence or digital competence have become prevalent. This study adopts a systematic review to interpret and analyse the relevant research findings, aiming to systematically investigate the existing models and paradigms of ICT competence or digital capacities and to understand further how these models and paradigms are applied specifically within the context of Chinese universities. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 12 out of 801 candidate studies were accessed from Web of Science, Scopus and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases. The findings indicate that the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and the National Educational Technology Guides for Teachers in Higher Education (CETG) are frequently used to evaluate college educators' digital proficiency or ICT capability in China. Educators’ demographic characteristics, self-efficacy, external factors such as institutional policies and the availability of infrastructure and training collectively influence how digital teaching is integrated within Chinese higher education institutions. By conducting a systematic review of research trends and the critical factors affecting the digital competence of faculty in Chinese universities, this study aims to equip policymakers and educators with a deeper understanding of how to prepare for educational shifts in the digital era and thereby ensure the sustainability of professional development.

Spoken and signed languages hand in hand: parallel and directly comparable corpora of French Belgian Sign Language (lsfb) and French

Linguistics as a discipline only began to consider signed languages as legitimate, fully fledged linguistic systems from the 1960s onwards. However, comparative work on signed and spoken languages made so far has struggled to draw on similar methodologies. In this paper, we seek to fill in this gap by presenting a recently built set of multilingual corpora, allowing scholars to conduct comparative studies on French Belgian Sign Language (lsfb), and its ambient spoken language, Belgian French. This paper outlines the theoretical developments which have led to the creation of these corpora, highlighting two breakthroughs in the understanding of human communicative practices (i.e., the emergence of signed language linguistics and the development of comparative semiotics). We show that combining these recent theoretical insights with the new methodological tools holds potential for future research avenues that could broaden and improve our understanding of language use.

Parenteral Beta-Lactam/Beta-Lactamase Inhibitor Ordering in Hospitals That Provide Care for Pediatric Patients.

The purpose of this study was to define current practices related to beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor (BL/BLI) dose descriptions in hospitals that provide care for pediatric patients and to identify perceived implications of standardizing BL/BLI dose communication and ordering to a total drug-based strategy. A 27-item electronic survey was distributed via 4 pediatric pharmacy and infectious diseases listservs. Survey questions pertained to hospital demographics, dosing communication practices, BL/BLI ordering and labeling practices, obstacles to safe BL/BLI use, and the effects of potential standardization to a total drug communication strategy. SPSS was used for quantitative analysis and MAXQDA was used for qualitative analysis. A total of 140 unique survey responses were analyzed after exclusion of incomplete responses and reconciliation of multiple responses from the same institution. Overall, 56.2% of institutions order BL/BLIs by BL component for pediatric patients, and 22% of institutions order by BL component for adult patients. Approximately half (51.8%) of respondents felt that standardizing to total drug would have a negative effect at their institution; perception of potential effect varied based on the institution's ordering strategy. Communication and ordering of BL/BLIs is inconsistent across institutions and between pediatric and adult patients. In the short term, the perception is that standardization would compound institutional challenges.

Revolutionizing Therapeutic Communication Practice: From Student-Crafted to AI-Optimized

Revolutionizing Therapeutic Communication Practice: From Student-Crafted to AI-Optimized

Using Structural Equation Modelling to Explore the Relationship Between Patient-Centered Communication, Human Papilloma (HPV)-related Knowledge, and Perceived Effectiveness of the HPV Vaccine.

Patient-centered communication has emerged as a potent strategy for increasing vaccine uptake. Drawing on evidence-based paths established from previous studies, our study examines the relationship between patient-centered communication, HPV knowledge and perceived HPV vaccine effectiveness. We also explored the sociodemographic factors impacting patient-centered communication, HPV knowledge and perceived HPV vaccine effectiveness. We analyzed data from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) 5, Cycle 1, ran Structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the pathways in our conceptual framework. Our sample comprised 2522 adults aged 18-79 (mean age 47.98 years) who were predominantly Non-Hispanic White (67.65%), female (53.31%), and heterosexual (95.12%). The model fit statistics for the final structural model indicated a good fit [RMSEA= 0.039, CFI=0.99 TLI= 0.99, and SRMR =0.070]. The path linking patient-centered communication to HPV knowledge (β=0.011, p<0.05), and the knowledge-mediated path linking patient-centered communication to HPV vaccine effectiveness (β=0.007, p<0.05) were found to be statistically significant. HPV researchers must delve deeper into patient-centered communication practices to improve vaccine uptake. Tailoring conversations to individual needs and preferences is key to enhancing HPV knowledge, and ultimately improve perceptions of HPV vaccine effectiveness and increase its acceptability.

Identifying Facilitators and Inhibitors of Shared Understanding: An Ethnography of Diagnosis Communication in Acute Medical Settings.

Communication is important in determining how patients understand the diagnostic process. Empirical studies involving direct observation of communication within diagnostic processes are relatively limited. This ethnographic study aimed to identify communicative practices facilitating or inhibiting shared understanding between patients and doctors in UK acute secondary care settings. Data were collected in acute medical sectors of three English hospitals. Researchers observed doctors as they assessed patients; semistructured interviews were undertaken with doctors and patients directly afterwards. Patients were also interviewed 2-4 weeks later. Case studies of individual encounters (consisting of these interviews and observational notes) were created, and were cross-examined by an interdisciplinary team to identify divergence and convergence between doctors' and patients' narratives. These data were analysed thematically. We conducted 228 h of observation, 24 doctor interviews, 32 patient interviews and 15 patient follow-up interviews. Doctors varied in their communication. Patient diagnostic understanding was sometimes misaligned with that of their doctors; interviews revealed that they often made incorrect assumptions to make sense of the fragmented information received. Thematic analysis identified communicative practices that seemed to facilitate, or inhibit, shared diagnostic understanding between patient and doctor, revealing three themes: (1) communicating what has been understood from the medical record, (2) sharing the thought process and diagnostic reasoning and (3) closing the loop and discharge communication. Shared understanding was best fostered by clear communication about the diagnostic process, what had already been done and what was achievable in acute settings. Written information presents an underutilised tool in such communication. In UK acute secondary settings, the provision of more information about the diagnostic process often fostered shared understanding between doctor and patient, helping to minimise the confusion and dissatisfaction that can result from misaligned expectations or conclusions about the diagnosis, and the uncertainty therein. A patient and public involvement group (of a range of ages and backgrounds) was consulted. They contributed to the design of the protocol, including the timing of interviews, the acceptability of a follow-up telephone interview, the development of the interview guides and the participant information sheets.

Building and Maintaining a Whole Community Initiative: Health Communication in Practice with Be Well Communities™

ABSTRACT The most effective health communication builds from evidence-based best practices and theory. In practice, health campaigns rely on considerations often under-discussed in health communication, such as consistent agency-style client service, image management, and community coalition-building. Health outcome progress often requires change at multiple levels, from individual cognition and behavior to policy creation. These multi-level needs further highlight the importance of effective practical health communication supporting a range of outcomes and building toward replication. This article covers the complexities of building and implementing a theory-informed health communication structure for a multifaceted, place-based cancer prevention initiative. Part of the overall process includes detailing the internal communications of a health communication group, interorganizational communication, engaging community partner support, the message creation process, and longitudinal efforts on program maintenance and assessment. Furthermore, this article seeks to offer an example of the client service role a health communication team can play to combine theory, empirical message development, and community goals in whole community efforts. Ultimately, the goal is to share experiences from seven years of program work to help guide future community-based efforts in other health contexts and foster progress in theoretical and practical understandings of health communication.

Automated Communication’s Impact on Strategic Communication: Implications from a Systematic Review

ABSTRACT The trend of automation, artificial intelligence, and algorithms has taken hold of strategic communication research and practice. While research on specific automated communication phenomena, such as AI influencers and chatbots, is steadily increasing in fields such as marketing and journalism, its implications for strategic communication have not yet been addressed. To offer a comprehensive overview, a systematic review of 76 articles was conducted to study the conceptualisations, methods, and normative reflections of automated communication across different social science disciplines. Findings show that automated communication has been studied in various contexts, though rarely in strategic communication. Clear and consistent terminology is often lacking and various conceptualisations for sub-phenomena, if present at all, are put forward; automated communication as an overall phenomenon has not yet been defined. Moreover, a plethora of theoretical and methodological approaches have been used, pointing to a lack of coherent knowledge. Thus, current research on automated communication is fragmented and misses a unified understanding of the phenomenon. As a remedy, this study (1) provides a typology of automated communication, (2) proposes a definition of the concept, and (3) discusses its implications for strategic communication research and practice including a research agenda.

Positive Communication Practices for Enhancing Collaboration

Collaboration is the process of people working together toward a common goal and occurs in a wide range of contexts. When done well, almost anything is possible. Because of its potential, collaboration is touted as one of the most promising ways to address today’s most difficult and complex problems. However, not all collaborative efforts realize their potential for a variety of reasons, including the relational aspects of collaboration. Central to collaboration and its efficacy, interpersonal relationships can be enhanced through positive communication. This research explores positive and negative communication patterns in collaborative contexts. Thematic analysis is applied to qualitative data collected from 278 participants involved in varied collaborative efforts. Fifteen collaborative communication practices emerge as playing an important role in fostering collaboration. Findings from this research contribute to the growing field of positive communication scholarship by offering positive communication practices that people can employ to strengthen interpersonal relationships in collaborative efforts. Guidance on ways practitioners can apply these findings is provided.

Pragmatic Instructions in Oral Communication in Context

There is a need to revisit and recalibrate pragmatic instructions of English teachers in the Philippines to adequately communicate the competencies required of students. Consequently, the primary purpose of this research was to look into the pragmatic instructions utilized by senior high school English teachers and whether there was a difference in the use of their pragmatic instructions when grouped according to years of service and educational attainment in one leading private senior high school in Baguio City, Philippines. By employing a survey questionnaire and a series of classroom observations of all senior high school English teachers, the researcher found that they sometimes integrated at least one from instructional pragmatic approaches and at least one from interlanguage pragmatic awareness-raising techniques, interlanguage pragmatic communicative practice techniques, interlanguage pragmatic corrective feedback techniques, and culture teaching techniques in every lesson in their Oral Communication in Context classes. Meanwhile, there was a discrepancy between the perceptions of English teachers as expressed in the questionnaire and their performance in the classroom. Although there were generally no significant differences in the application of pragmatic instructions by English teachers when grouped according to years of service and educational attainment, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that they incorporate more approaches and more techniques as they amass more years in the English teaching profession as well as when they obtain more advanced degrees in the graduate school. Besides adding to the body of literature regarding pragmatic instructions, this research endeavor also puts forward recommendations for future study.

MODERN COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: THE CIVILIZATION DIMENSION

The article examines the effectiveness of communication practices in modern international relations against the background of civilizational features of the interacting parties. The authors found out the actual state and nature of communications at the international level between the East and the West, they discovered the causes of conflict, and formed a conclusion on this basis. The researchers answered the question - how to reach a new level of effectiveness of communication practices in international relations and how to achieve congruent communications in the intra-societal system? The purpose of the article is to clarify modern effective communication practices taking into account the inter-civilization factor in international relations. The relevance of the article lies in the need to search for new approaches in international communications based on the synergy of communications to solve global problems of our time, create safe living conditions for the world community. As a result of the study, the authors revealed the ineffectiveness of modern communication practices. This statement is true for both international communications and communications in the internal environment of political, intra-societal systems. The subjects of international relations often simply do not take into account the civilizational differences of their partners, therefore they cannot come to an agreement with them on important issues of life, first of all. Among these differences, we should highlight: cultural, ethnic and religious characteristics of communicants - representatives of the East and the West. Modern international conflicts arising on the basis of civilizational and cultural confrontations between the East and the West push us to develop a new paradigm of communication practices. These practices should be based on congruent interaction of communicants, on the elimination of their civilizational and cultural differences as the cause of unsuccessful communications. Politicians are now forced to take into account not only the political, economic and power resources of the interacting parties, but also cultural, religious and ethnic characteristics. The focus of researchers should be on issues that include not only minimizing disagreements and balancing interests between states, but also searching for the broadest possible agenda and identifying common interests at the global and regional levels.

Standing Up to the Maskless: Antecedents of Norm Enforcement Behavior and Meta-Norm Misperception During COVID-19 at a College Campus

Extending theorization on bystander intervention, this study examined antecedents of upstanding, a communication practice in which bystanders communicate disapproval to norm violators, using the context of mask wearing during COVID-19. Survey findings from undergraduate students revealed that perceived legitimacy of intervention played a key role in decisions to stand up to mask norm violators. In addition, anticipation of hostile responses from the confronted party and bystander indifference discouraged upstanding behavior or intentions. Participants also expected to receive less support from bystanders in a hypothetical episode as an upstander than what they intended to offer an upstander as a bystander.

Connecting audiences with climate change: Towards humanised and action-focused data interactions

This paper investigates the relationship between design research and humancomputer interaction (HCI) in the context of climate change communication and engagement. We discuss current practices in climate change communication and the decrease in concern and engagement caused by “crisis fatigue”. Through Research through Design (RtD), we set out to investigate data humanism and how users react to climate change data, testing approaches to improve engagement. With this purpose, we designed and evaluated Finding Arcadia, an interactive data story that uses data humanism to shift the dialogue from crisis-focused to action-focused. One study with the original IMF visualisations (N = 17) and two studies in public spaces (N = 12 and N = 64) point to the contextualization of the data and presenting actionable solutions helping in engaging users with climate change issues; help in creating solution-focused narratives and interpreting and relating with climate data. From these results, we derive insights for designing empowering interactive data visualizations for resilient climate change engagement.

Constructing inclusion and exclusion in and through leaders’ communication discourses and practices

This study explores the discourses and communication practices of five leaders working in elderly care units in a mid-size city in Sweden and the construct of inclusion and exclusion by examining their daily communicative leadership practices with their work groups, consisting of Swedish-born and foreigner-born migrants. The results were drawn from an analysis of interviews with five leaders and the observation of eight meetings led by three of them. The findings indicate that leaders’ different strategies of inclusion are related to the engagement and participation of workers in discussions and decision-making. Some salient practices and discourses are pertinent to leaders’ cultural biases that can lead to ethnocentrism and essentialism, which might have a negative impact on inclusion. Leaders who practice inclusiveness through connecting, relating, and giving space for engagement and participation might better contribute to workplaces. The aspects and strategies of inclusion and exclusion are embedded in leaders’ practices and discourses and present them as bridge builders, empathetic and supportive, and culture enhancers. This study presents leaders' communication styles to include and exclude migrant workers and their strategies for engagement and participation in workplace issues. The leaders' communication styles emerged from the data and were defined as bridge builders, empathetic and supportive, and culture enhancers.

Коммуникативная импозитивность: систематический обзор

The purpose of the study is to review Russian and English-language publications that directly or indirectly address communicative imposition. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the fact that for the first time information on communicative imposition is summarized in the work, the concept of communicative imposition is clarified, and the main motives for using impositive statements and related relevant phenomena are revealed. The article describes the etymology of the lexeme " imposition ", as well as its introduction into scientific use. Using the elements of the method of systematic review of the litera-ture, the main provisions of the works of domestic and foreign researchers are presented. The intercultural aspect of the phenomenon is noted, the consideration of which can greatly affect the environmental friendliness of communication. As a result, it was determined that imposition correlates with linguistic (persistence) and socially regulated (power distance) phenomena. Aggravation of imposition often occurs as a result of leaving the "communicative corridor" of communication participants. imposition is a communicative effect associated with a threat to the speaker's face, which is culturally specific. The results of the study can be used to improve the theory of politeness and the practice of intercultural communication

Research on Animal Communication Ethics of Platform Media

Digital media has a comprehensive penetration of ordinary people's daily life by virtue of the presence of diverse forms and multiple realities, and reshapes human perception, realizing the impact on people's cognition. Therefore, for the ordinary audience who are "separated" and have no "animal experience", the cognition of animals comes from the construction of animals by digital media to a large extent, and this construction itself is divorced from the imagination of animals in real natural life. Based on the analysis of the current communication practice of animal short videos and live broadcasts, this paper attempts to explore the problems existing in the construction of the relationship between animals and humans by digital media, and through specific cases to demonstrate the domestication logic of human beings and animals behind animal short videos and live broadcasts, as well as the spiritual hallucination and "ambiguity of human beings and animals" caused by the spectacular drama and entertainment of animals with the help of digital media .

Communicating science through films: the case of the International Festival of Scientific and Educational Film (1956–1975)

ABSTRACT The Rassegna Internazionale del film Scientifico-didattico (International Festival of Scientific and Educational Film [IFSEF]) was a pioneering science-based public event held at the University of Padova from 1956 to 1975 in collaboration with the Venice International Film Festival. The IFSEF is treated as a case of a multiform space to question the permeable boundaries between hard scientific content and its aesthetic dimension, educational role, and science communication activity. Through the notions of ‘surplus of meaning’, ‘boundary object’ and ‘boundary space’, which are concepts at the intersection of science and technology studies, film studies and media studies, the IFSEF emerges as a distinctive moment in the construction of science as a multiform object in society, thus providing an opportunity to analyse the management of the evolving boundaries between scientific expertise and science communication at the dawn of modern science communication practice. The main point that emerges from the analysis of the IFSEF is the idea that the identity, meanings, structures and logics that characterise the IFSEF in many ways reflect crucial issues at the heart of the historical evolution of the boundaries between science and society, between the scientific community and other social actors, and between scientific epistemologies and different views of science-related content, thus contributing to a redefinition of the roles and identities of the actors involved in the configuration of the festival.

Lexical-and-Semantic Field “New Sincerity”: Neologisms in Russian and Chinese Media Discourse

The ideographic description of new vocabulary and the linguistic units within the lexical-and-semantic field of the idiom new sincerity in particular, is being considered. It is noted that in addition to its cultural significance, this expression has also acquired two new meanings: marketing technology and communicative practice. It is precisely in these meanings that the idiom new sincerity is studied in this research. Using component, contextual, and interpretive methods of analysis, with the support of the ideographic dictionary compiled by one of the authors and examples of usage in media discourse texts, the vocabulary within the lexical-and-semantic field of “new sincerity” has been identified and described. Most of the linguistic units in this group have been established to be neologisms. The presented ideographic network has a frame structure and reflects the fragments of modern reality represented in the linguistic worldview by new vocabulary. The authors have identified 5 segments (slots) of the ideographic network: “new sincerity” as a tactic in internet communication, social-and-political communication, as a basis for uniting people, a form of expressing aggression, and as a communicative practice in the conditions of the coronavirus pandemic. Each segment includes a set of ideograms that unite lexical representatives – neologisms. It is noted that the expression new sincerity is not used in Chinese media texts. However, there has been an increasing interest in open expression of feelings and sharing personal stories by participants in modern Chinese shows, which corresponds to the practice of “new sincerity” in virtual and real life.

Behavioral skill practice as a predictor of mood and family functioning in adolescents with bipolar and depressive mood disorders: Results of a 6-month randomized trial of family-focused therapy.

Behavioral interventions require considerable practice of treatment skills in between therapy sessions. The effects of these treatments may vary with the degree to which patients are able to implement these practices. In offspring of parents with bipolar and major depressive disorders, we examined whether youth who frequently practiced communication and problem-solving skills between family-focused therapy (FFT) sessions had less severe mood symptoms and better psychosocial functioning over 6 months than youth who practiced less frequently. We randomly assigned offspring (ages 12-19) of parents with mood disorders to 12 sessions of FFT plus a mobile app that encouraged the practice of communication, problem-solving and mood management skills (FFT-MyCoachConnect [MCC] condition) or 12 sessions of FFT with an app that only allowed for tracking of symptoms and stress (FFT-Track condition). Independent evaluators assessed youths' mood and psychosocial functioning at 9-week intervals over 27 weeks. Clinicians rated participants' between-session skill practice at each FFT session. FFT-MCC was associated with more frequent skill practice than FFT-Track over 18 weeks of treatment. Skill practice was associated with reductions in youths' mood instability and perceptions of family conflict over 27 weeks in both app conditions. Skill practice mediated the effects of app condition on youths' mood instability and family functioning. Mobile applications as adjuncts to family therapy for youth with mood disorders can help increase skill practice. These findings provide preliminary causal evidence for behavioral skill practice improving mood symptoms and family functioning among youth with mood disorders.

Psychiatric Healthcare Experiences of South Asian Patients with Severe Mental Illness Diagnoses and Their Families in New York City: A Qualitative Study.

South Asians (SAs) underutilize mental health services compared to many racial and ethnic groups in the United States (US), yet there is limited research on the experiences of SAs living with severe mental illness (SMI). This study examined psychiatric healthcare experiences of SA patients with SMI diagnoses (e.g., severe depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia) in New York City. Data collection included semi-structured interviews with 36 participants (21 patients, 11 family members, 4 clinicians). Data was managed in NVivo. Two pairs of SA researchers conducted thematic analysis. Limited mental health knowledge led to delayed care for SAs due to a low perceived need for help. Ease of access, linguistic resources, patient-provider relationships, and family involvement influenced psychiatric healthcare experiences. Prescribed medications, self-motivation, communication, and religious practices were factors aiding symptom management and recovery. Findings highlight the need for improving psychiatric healthcare access and culturally-salient mental health education for SA communities.