Communication Strategies Research Articles

Evaluating Negotiators Who Deceptively Communicate Anger or Happiness: On the Importance of Morality, Sociability, and Competence

AbstractResearch has shown that negotiators sometimes misrepresent their emotions, and communicate a different emotion to opponents than they actually experience. Less is known about how people evaluate such negotiation tactics. Building on person perception literature, we investigated in three preregistered studies (N = 853) how participants evaluate negotiators who deceptively (vs. genuinely) communicate anger or happiness, on the dimensions of morality, sociability, and competence. Study 1 employed a buyer/seller setting, Studies 2 and 3 employed an Ultimatum Bargaining Game (UBG). In all studies, participants learned a negotiator’s (the target’s) experienced and communicated emotions (anger or happiness), before evaluating the target. Across studies, targets were evaluated lower on morality if they deceptively (vs. genuinely) communicated anger or happiness. Notably, negotiators deceptively communicating anger were evaluated lower on morality and sociability but higher on competence than those deceptively communicating happiness. Studies 2 and 3 investigated behavioral consequences by examining whether in a future negotiation participants chose the target to be their opponent or representative. Results showed that for opponents, participants preferred targets who genuinely communicated happiness (vs. anger), which was associated with their perceived morality or sociability. For representatives, participants not only preferred targets who had genuinely communicated happiness (vs. anger), but also targets who had deceptively communicated anger (vs. happiness), which was associated with their perceived competence. These findings show that when evaluating deceptive (vs. genuine) communication strategies, people distinguish between morality, sociability, and competence. The importance they attach to these dimensions is also contingent on the behavioral decisions they face.

Developing a supportive virtual human to deliver clinical trial education for older women and other populations historically excluded from research

ObjectiveThis study aimed to identify communication strategies that virtual humans (VHs) discussing clinical trials can use to foster positive relationships with older women to better deliver research education. MethodsA template thematic analysis and matrix analysis of 10 interviews and 3 focus groups with 37 older women identifying as White non-Hispanic, Black, or Hispanic/Latinx were conducted. ResultsVHs can foster positive relationships with older women during clinical trial education by communicating social support. At the same time, VHs should convey credibility. Factors shaping experiences of the VHs’ support and credibility include race and ethnicity, comfort with research and technology, and current health status. ConclusionDeploying communication strategies that foster positive relationships between VHs and older women are crucial for optimizing the use of VHs during clinical trial education for populations historically excluded from research. Practice ImplicationsThis study provides a cohesive framework guiding the development of VH clinical trial educators for older women to meet their communication needs. The framework may extend to other populations historically excluded from research and real human clinical trial educators. FundingThis work was supported by the National Institute on Aging National Institutes of Health, Award R24AG074867 (PIs: Krieger and Anton).

Polyvocality as a communicative strategy in Korean–Black business interactions

ABSTRACT This research analyzes and explains the use of multiple voices in a beauty supply store as an intercultural communication process that plays a particular role in adjusting the participants’ relationships. This study explores the alternation of language between the Korean American business owner and his Black neighbors to meet the following research objectives: (a) to examine how a store owner uses polyvocality to mitigate tension, (b) to investigate how his interlocutors react to his shift in language, and (c) to explore how the voicing of these “figures of personhood” represents the negotiation of their relationships. I argue that the participants in these particular intercultural interactions employ various discursive strategies to build rapport and avoid conflicts. However, despite their long-term and personal relationships and the application of multiple voices, sources of conflict such as racial hierarchy and socioeconomic disparities remain unresolved.

Interventions to Support Resident and Fellow Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review.

Background The COVID-19 pandemic led to rapid and wide-scale changes in graduate medical education and impacted the well-being of frontline physicians, including residents and fellows. While institutions and programs implemented initiatives to support the unique needs of trainees during the pandemic, there remains a gap in the literature in examining the approaches used, the domains of well-being addressed, and the effectiveness of these efforts. Objective To review the literature on interventions designed to promote resident and fellow well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods The authors conducted a scoping review of the literature published between January 1, 2020, and November 30, 2023, in PubMed, Scopus, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and ERIC to identify interventions to promote the well-being of trainees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results Eighteen articles met inclusion criteria, mainly studies conducted in the United States (14 of 18, 77.8%). Most interventions targeted psychological well-being (16 of 18, 88.9%), with only a few studies that included interventions in the physical or social domains. Interventions entailed redeployment, schedule modifications, communication strategies, and expanded mental health support. Most interventions were limited to a few weeks' duration in the first surge phase of the pandemic. Only 11 studies (61%) reported outcome measures, and only 2 (11%) used instruments with validity evidence. Most studies did not report sufficient data to evaluate study quality. Conclusions While longer-term outcome data were often lacking, studies described a range of interventions to support resident well-being. Future research should focus on the effectiveness of well-being interventions and include cohorts from more diverse clinical settings.

Ecological principles for the evolution of communication in collective systems.

Communication allows members of a collective to share information about their environment. Advanced collective systems, such as multicellular organisms and social insect colonies, vary in whether they use communication at all and, if they do, in what types of signals they use, but the origins of these differences are poorly understood. Here, we develop a theoretical framework to investigate the evolution and diversity of communication strategies under collective-level selection. We find that whether communication can evolve depends on a collective's external environment: communication only evolves in sufficiently stable environments, where the costs of sensing are high enough to disfavour independent sensing but not so high that the optimal strategy is to ignore the environment altogether. Moreover, we find that the evolution of diverse signalling strategies-including those relying on prolonged signalling (e.g. honeybee waggle dance), persistence of signals in the environment (e.g. ant trail pheromones) and brief but frequent communicative interactions (e.g. ant antennal contacts)-can be explained theoretically in terms of the interplay between the demands of the environment and internal constraints on the signal. Altogether, we provide a general framework for comparing communication strategies found in nature and uncover simple ecological principles that may contribute to their diversity.

Design and performance analysis of integrated sensing and communication scheme based on LoRa signals

LoRa (Long Range) has garnered widespread adoption in Internet of Things (IoT) communications due to its extensive transmission range and robust resistance to interference. Furthermore, its capability to linearly discern deviations across both frequency and time domains renders it an ideal signal for sensing applications. Consequently, this article proposes an Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) scheme based on the LoRa signal. On the communication side, while the modulation and demodulation processes of the LoRa signal are currently kept confidential, this article has theoretically derived its principles and further implemented the communication functionality of LoRa through experimental simulations. On the sensing side, through theoretical derivation and experimental simulation, the influence of different modulation information on the peak amplitude and position of pulse compression was analyzed. Two signal processing schemes are proposed to overcome the impact of modulation information, thereby enabling the sensing function. The communication and sensing performance of the proposed ISAC scheme was evaluated. Experimental results demonstrated that, even in low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) environments, the communication function maintained a low bit error rate (BER), while the sensing function achieved a high target detection rate, both of which exhibited excellent performance.

OASR-WFBP: An overlapping aware start-up sharing gradient merging strategy for efficient communication in distributed deep learning

Wait-Free-Back-Propagation (WFBP) is a practical method for distributed deep-learning, but it suffers from a high communication overhead. To address this issue, the communication overhead can be reduced by overlapping gradient communication and computation, and sharing the startup time among multiple gradient communication phases. However, existing optimizations choose to share the startup time greedily and fail to coordinately exploit the overlapping opportunity between computation and communication. We propose an overlapping aware startup sharing Wait-Free-Back-Propagation (OASR-WFBP). An analytic model is designed to guide the sharing procedure. Evaluations show that OSAR-WFBP achieves a 5%-16% optimization in iteration time over the state-of-the-art WFBP algorithm.

Simultaneous lightwave information and power transfer for NLOS ultraviolet communications under different weather conditions

In this work, a power allocation scheme for ultraviolet communication (UVC) with simultaneous lightwave information and power transfer (SLIPT) is proposed. Based on the non-line-of-sight (NLOS) single scattering channel model, the path loss and bit error rate (BER) performance of the UVC system with different geometrical parameters are analyzed. The effects of three types of weather, light rain, fine weather and severe fog conditions are considered. It is proved that the path loss is minimized on foggy days with minimum BER, followed by sunny days. The proposed SLIPT approach that the receiving energy is in turn divided into two parts, one for energy harvesting (EH) and the other for information decoding (ID). The system is designed to optimize energy harvesting for autonomous power supply, while ensuring a specified BER threshold and maintaining spectral efficiency. The effects of three types of weather on the SLIPT system are further investigated. It is demonstrated that under shorter communication distance(r), smaller elevation angle of receiving terminal (βR), larger field of view (FoV) and lower spectral efficiency(η) conditions, a higher percentage of energy is allocated for EH, with foggy days being the most favorable. The extreme geometric parameters of rainy condition can lead to the inability of communication, which needs to be limited to r ≤ 10 m, elevation angle of Rx ≤ 6°, FOV ≥100°, spectral efficiency ≤3, under the preset parameters in this paper.

DT-Block: Adaptive vertical federated reinforcement learning scheme for secure and efficient communication in 6G

The necessities of security and data sharing have focused on federated learning because of using decentralized data sources. The existing works used federated learning for security, however, it still faces many challenges such as poor security and privacy, computational complexity, etc. In this research, we propose adaptive vertical federated learning using a reinforcement learning approach and blockchain. The proposed work includes three phases: user registration and authentication, machine learning-based client selection, and adaptive secure federated learning. Initially, all the users register their credentials to the cognitive agent, which generates a private key, public key, and random number using a Chaotic Isogenic Post Quantum Cryptography (CIPQC) algorithm. Second, optimal clients are selected for participating in federated learning which improves learning rate and reduces complexity. Here, optimal clients are selected by the Enhanced Multilayer Feed Forward Neural Network (EMFFN) algorithm by considering CSI, RSSI, bandwidth, energy, communication efficiency, and statistical efficiency. Finally, adaptive secure federated learning is performed by the Distributed Distributional Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (D4PG) algorithm, where the local models are adaptively used by the private strategy based on its sensitivity. The aggregated global models are stored in DT-block (dendrimer tree-based blockchain) which stores the data in a dendrimer tree structure for increasing scalability and reducing search time during data retrieval. The simulation of this research is conducted by NS-3.26 network simulator and the performance of the proposed DT-Block model is estimated based on various performance metrics such as accuracy, delay, loss, f1-score, and security strength this demonstrated that the suggested effort produced better results both in terms of quantitative and qualitative aspects.

Anti-genderism in the Spanish radical right’s propaganda discourses

Abstract Anti-genderism discourses emerge in response to new public policies resulting from the Fourth Feminist Wave. In the case of Spain, the radical right political party Vox not only articulates an anti-genderism discourse but has also proposed the so-called Parental Pin as an alternative to feminist education. In this light, this study aims to analyse the propagandistic messages of the aforementioned party on social networks, focusing on the Parental Pin as the main theme. Furthermore, it examines the favourable feedback received from its followers. The application of Critical Discourse Analysis revealed that polarisation constitutes a fundamental resource for understanding the communicative and political strategy of the party. Results also revealed that the party conveys an image of itself as guardians of parental freedom and national values, while strategically portraying the left and feminists as adversaries.

Using virtual reality technology to prevent substance misuse and violence among university students: A pilot and feasibility study.

Objectives: New prevention approaches that use engaging and innovative technologies are needed to reduce high rates of substance use and violence among university students. The present study developed and pilot-tested virtual reality (VR) technology that presented university students with immersive environments where they practiced skills with virtual peers. Methods: After viewing e-learning modules with prevention content, students engaged with immersive VR module prototypes to practice cognitive-behavioral skills for preventing risk behaviors, including assertive communication, negotiation, compromise, conflict resolution, and bystander intervention strategies. Results: Paired t-tests showed increases in life skills knowledge and anti-violence attitudes among students from the pretest to posttest assessments. Students and educators were enthusiastic about the VR prototypes, rating them as feasible, relevant, appealing, engaging, and innovative for prevention. Participants provided feedback on ways to improve the VR experience by including a greater variety of conflict situations, more nuanced branched scenarios and response options, and a more complete representation of all scenario outcomes. Conclusions: Findings suggest that VR scenarios are a promising strategy for enhancing life skills to help prevent health risk behaviors among university students.

Patient-friendliness of ChatGPT responses: NSCLC targeted therapy.

231 Background: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) targeted therapies are complex, often requiring extensive patient education beyond what can be conveyed in a single provider visit. Given the average US reading level is at the 8th grade, and many patients seek additional information online, it is vital to evaluate the readability of online resources. This study aims to determine the patient friendliness of information provided by AI chatbots like ChatGPT in explaining NSCLC targeted therapies compared to other commonly accessed sources. Methods: This analysis included targeted therapies approved by the FDA for EGFR-mutated NSCLC: Afatinib, Erlotinib, Osimertinib, Dacomitinib, and Gefitinib. Information sources included ChatGPT 4, ChatGPT 3.5, the Patient Information section of the FDA label, and the Google featured snippet. Each version of ChatGPT was queried 10 times for each individual therapy – “My doctor is suggesting starting therapy with (Drug Name). What can I expect with this medication?”. All responses, labels, and snippets were examined by Microsoft Word for word count (WC) and Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), which considers average sentence length and number of syllables per word to assess readability. Data analysis was performed using ANOVA in SAS. Results: Across all therapies, Mean FRES for ChatGPT 4 was 31.21, ChatGPT 3.5 26.69, FDA labels 50.78, and Google snippets 33.1. Mean WC for ChatGPT 4 was 312.54, ChatGPT 3.5 355.78, FDA labels 1220, and Google snippets 42. Significant differences in FRES were found among sources for Afatinib (p-value <0.0001), Erlotinib (p-value 0.0206), Osimertinib (p-value <0.0001), Dacomitinib (p-value 0.0125), and Gefitinib (p-value <0.0001). Significant differences in WC were also found among sources for Afatinib (p-value <0.0001), Erlotinib (p-value <0.0001), Osimertinib (p-value <0.0001), and Gefitinib (p-value 0.0045). No significant difference in WC was found for Dacomitinib (p-value 0.2807). Conclusions: While the FDA label provided the most readable information, none of the sources aligned with the average 8th-grade reading level in the US, indicating a gap in accessible patient education for NSCLC targeted therapies. Notably, readability varies significantly between ChatGPT versions, affecting accessibility for users of the free version, ChatGPT 3.5. Although ChatGPT responses are more succinct compared to the verbose FDA labels, their higher education-level readability presents a barrier to comprehension. This study highlights the need for further research into optimizing AI-generated patient education materials to be both accurate and comprehensible at appropriate reading levels, thereby improving health communication strategies.

Voices in Crisis: High-Salience Stakeholders’ Experiences and Perceptions of Communication During Educational Management Crisis

This paper investigates how important stakeholders (professors and students) were informed and updated about the 2016 IUP faculty and Staff Strike crisis. The paper employs a qualitative case study methodology in which a group of four participants, two professors, and two graduate students, were snowballed and interviewed in a semi-structured interview style. The paper sought to answer the following questions: How did the professors and students experience the strike, and how did they perceive the way IUP handled communication during the strike crisis? The participants’ responses were recorded, transcribed, and coded for analysis. The study’s findings were reported in nine themes that show the nuanced and multifaceted dimensions of the experiences and perceptions of the participants, showing the dynamics at play during this critical period. This study provides a comprehensive analysis that contributes to the broader discourse on crisis communication in university settings, emphasizing the importance of stakeholders’ perspectives and experiences in shaping effective crisis communication strategies.

Qualitative study on information, trust in and access to COVID-19 vaccines among adolescents at a healthcare center in Buenos Aires.

Introduction. During adolescence, individuals start to make autonomous decisions about their health. Vaccination involves contextual, group, and vaccine-specific dimensions. We sought to know the information, trust, and decision to receive the COVID-19 vaccine among adolescents who attended a healthcare center in Buenos Aires. Objectives. To identify settings and channels through which adolescents accessed information about the COVID-19 vaccine at a healthcare center in Buenos Aires. To describe their opinions about the different statements on vaccination. To describe their participation in COVID-19 vaccination. To identify barriers and facilitators to COVID-19 vaccination in this population. Population and methods. Qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews with adolescents who attended this healthcare facility. The sample was heterogeneous; the sample size was estimated by theoretical saturation. A thematic analysis of data was done. Results. A total of 14 interviews were conducted. Interviewees obtained information about the COVID-19 vaccine from their families, TV, and social media. All received information from both official campaigns and anti-vaccine communications. They analyzed the information they received and formed their own opinion. Their decision about the vaccine was not always respected. Hesitancy, a low perception of risk, fear of needles, administrative and geographic barriers were reasons for not receiving the vaccine. Conclusions. Communication strategies targeted at adolescents are required that encourage their involvement in access to vaccination.

Feasibility of a culturally adapted technology-delivered, family-based childhood obesity intervention for Latino/Hispanic families in rural Nebraska: the Hispanic Family Connections study protocol

IntroductionAddressing childhood obesity risk factors like home environment, parental roles, excess weight, physical activity and healthy eating among Latino/Hispanic (L/H) families living in rural communities is an important priority. However,...

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL FACTORS ON MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY: LANGUAGE VARIATION ACROSS DIFFERENT PATIENT GROUPS

This study explores the impact of social factors on the comprehension of medical terminology across diverse patient groups. Focusing on education level, socioeconomic status, and cultural background, the research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining surveys and interviews with 300 participants. Findings reveal significant disparities in understanding; those with higher education and income levels demonstrate better comprehension compared to their lower-income counterparts. Cultural influences further complicate communication, often leading to misunderstandings. The results underscore the necessity for healthcare providers to adopt culturally competent communication strategies and use plain language to enhance patient understanding and engagement in their healthcare.

THE METHODS OF STUDYING IMPLICITNESS IN BUSINESS DISCOURSE (BASED ON THE ANALYSIS OF THE UZBEK AND ENGLISH LANGUAGES)

This article explores the use of implicitness in English and Uzbek business discourse, focusing on metaphors, euphemisms, and implicatures. It highlights how cultural and linguistic factors influence indirect communication strategies in both languages. While English favors metaphor and euphemism for subtle expression, Uzbek places greater emphasis on euphemism and implicature, often linked to cultural values of respect and politeness. The analysis provides insights into how these strategies enhance business interactions, facilitating polite and effective communication across different cultural contexts.

Healthy identity development in adolescent and young adult (AYA) oncology: Enhancing family communication to reduce AYAs’ identity distress.

371 Background: Identity development is the process that informs how an individual views oneself and develops a sense of self. A cancer diagnosis during adolescence and young adulthood (AYA; ages 15-39) disrupts AYAs’ identity development and creates identity distress. Identity development is a key developmental task during AYA. It is a recognized psychosocial concern and need for diagnosed AYAs but remains an understudied psychosocial need in AYA oncology care. Identity development can be promoted (or inhibited) in AYAs’ social interactions. AYAs’ communication with parents (often their primary source of support) may function adaptively or maladaptively for AYAs’ identity development. A communication skills intervention for diagnosed AYAs and parents could address communication strategies that promote AYAs’ healthy identity development while buffering identity distress. To capture knowledge that will contribute to a communication skill intervention, this study aimed to identify parent – AYA communication that promotes or inhibits identity formation. Methods: We recruited 14 AYAs to participate in audio-recorded, semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Eligibility criteria for AYAs included: 1) must be diagnosed with any type of cancer during adolescence (aged 15-18) or emerging adulthood (aged 19-29) and 2) be in active treatment or up to 32 months since the end of treatment. Interviews were thematically analyzed using constant comparative method. Results: AYAs’ age ranged from 19-29 ( M =24 years old), and their age of diagnosis ranged from 15-27 years ( M =21 years old). Diagnosed AYAs shared four types of identity disruptions that involved communication with their parents: independence, friendships, sexual orientation/behavior, and long-term goals. They also shared how parents’ communication either promoted identity development or contributed to identity distress. Results indicated that parents’ using parental psychological control in communication contributed to AYAs’ identity distress. AYAs shared parents prioritizing the AYA’s voice and engaging in emotionally supportive communication fostered their identity development. Conclusions: This study captures specific communication approaches and behaviors in parent-AYA communication and its promotion of AYAs’ identity development or contribution to identity distress. Findings demonstrate the importance of developing communication skills training and conversation tools to helps both AYAs and parents learn how to communicate to promote AYAs’ identity development and better overall psychological well-being.

Strengthening Donor Trust via Enhanced Performance and Transparency in Zakat Management

General Background: Lazismu, an extension of Lembaga Amil Zakat, Infaq Sadaqoh Muhammadiyah, plays a crucial role in facilitating charitable donations and maintaining donor trust in the humanitarian sector. Specific Background: Despite its importance, Lazismu faces challenges regarding the management of zakat funds and transparency in financial reporting, which has led to diminished donor trust. Previous studies have inadequately explored the relationship between performance recognition and donor trust in zakat institutions. Knowledge Gap: This research aims to fill this gap by quantitatively examining how various independent variables—human resource performance enhancement, financial report transparency, and interpersonal communication within the fundraising division—impact donor trust at Lazismu in Mojokerto. Aims: The study specifically investigates the influence of these independent variables on donor trust in Lazismu, with a focus on enhancing organizational performance to regain donor confidence. Results: The findings reveal that enhanced human resource performance, transparent financial reporting, and improved interpersonal communication significantly contribute to increasing donor trust. Novelty: This research introduces a structured approach to evaluating zakat management performance through quantitative measures, offering insights into the dynamics of donor engagement and trust. Implications: The results underscore the necessity for zakat institutions to prioritize financial transparency and effective communication strategies to foster stronger relationships with donors, ultimately leading to increased zakat contributions and enhanced community support. Highlights: Trust Boost: Performance and transparency enhance donor confidence significantly. Engagement: Strong communication improves donor relationships and trust. Methodology: Quantitative research analyzes zakat institution performance effects. Keywords: Lazismu, donor trust, zakat management, financial transparency, interpersonal communication

Parent Views on Parent and Child-reported Outcomes in Pediatric Advanced Cancer: A Qualitative Study

BackgroundResearch on concurrent parent and patient-reported outcomes has primarily focused on reaching agreement. However, little is known about how to interpret and address discrepancies, which are not uncommon, between both viewpoints. ObjectivesTo explore parents' perspectives on reporting about child symptoms and quality of life (QoL) concurrently with their child in the context of pediatric advanced cancer. MethodsThis qualitative study was embedded in the PediQUEST Response Study, a randomized controlled trial of timely palliative care integration in children with advanced cancer. Over 18 weeks, study dyads (children ≥5 years old and one parent) completed weekly e-PROs assessing symptoms and QoL. Using a grounded theory approach, we ran a secondary analysis of end-of-study semi-structured parent interviews to examine their views on concurrent reporting of symptoms. ResultsOut of 110 randomized dyads included in this analysis, 77 parents completed an exit interview. Most were White non-Hispanic mothers. Parent reflections on concurrent reporting of child symptoms and QoL are summarized in the following themes: symptom experience is subjective, parent and child viewpoints are unique, parents ask fewer questions as they adapt to child treatment, and children may hesitate to share symptoms. To better grasp their child's experience, parents developed proactive communication strategies. ConclusionInterviewed parents acknowledged that parent report and child self-report are distinct and complementary. Their perspectives provide guidance to clinicians and researchers about the implementation and interpretation of concurrent outcomes measurement in pediatric advanced cancer care.Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03408314.