Perceptions Of Health Issues Research Articles

The Media-Mediated Model of Information Seeking Behavior: A Proposed Framework in the Chinese Culture During the COVID Pandemic

ABSTRACT This study aims to unravel the key determinants of individuals’ information seeking behavior during health crises. It challenges conventional perspectives that solely emphasize individual experiences. It also undermines frameworks that draw direct parallels between individual experiences and media factors, disregarding the mediating role of media. Models like the Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking (CMIS) also have limitations as they prioritize media mediation over recognizing the direct impacts of individual experiences on information seeking behaviors. We hereby propose a framework, the Media-Mediated Model of Information Seeking Behavior, that sheds light on the interplay between individual and media experiences. Analysis of survey data involving 5,469 participants in three Chinese societies, including mainland China (n = 2,067), Hong Kong (n = 1,913), and Taiwan (n = 1,489), reveals that individual experiences have both direct and indirect effects on information seeking, mediated by media utility. Experience of symptoms and risk perception depend on people’s perceptions of the utility of media, while efficacy and media trust directly influence information seeking behaviors. These findings contribute to theoretical understanding and offer practical guidelines. Public institutions and health promoters can leverage media platforms to shape people’s perceptions of health issues and encourage active information behaviors. It is also crucial to prioritize cultivating public trust in media and efficacy during crises.

Electronic cigarette related topics with conflicting arguments in Chinese newspapers.

INTRODUCTIONWhile debates on e-cigarettes are mainly conducted in scientific fora, media are the most accessible information source for the public, shaping their perceptions of health issues. This study is the first to examine e-cigarette related topics with conflicting arguments presented in Chinese newspapers.METHODSThe Chinese terms for ‘e-cigarettes’ were searched in a widely used Chinese news database Wisenews. Content analysis of the full text of 639 news articles was conducted to identify topics with conflicting arguments and examine whether the dominant argument in each topic changed across four time periods from 2004 to 2019.RESULTSTwelve e-cigarette related topics with conflicting arguments were identified. The most frequently reported topic was health impact of e-cigarettes, followed by impact of secondhand aerosol exposure, smoking cessation, relative health impact of e-cigarettes compared to cigarettes, and e-cigarette policies outside China. At the same time, the price was the least frequently reported topic. Overall, negative arguments outnumbered positive arguments in the study period. The dominant arguments within many topics changed across time periods; however, within the topics of relative health impact of e-cigarettes compared to cigarettes, taste/flavor, and economic prospects of the industry, positive arguments were more frequently reported in almost all periods. Within the topics of addiction, policies in China, and policies outside China, negative arguments were more frequently reported in virtually all periods.CONCLUSIONSThough overall the dominant argument about e-cigarettes and health was ‘e-cigarettes are harmful’, in the early time periods, e-cigarettes were reported as ‘harmless’ or even ‘healthy’. As China began to regulate e-cigarettes, the reporting on e-cigarettes more frequently included the ‘e-cigarettes are harmful’ argument. The consistent, more frequent reporting of ‘good e-cigarette taste/flavor’ has the potential to attract young people to e-cigarette products. The increased reporting on policies unfavorable to e-cigarettes aligned with the growing number of regulations restricting e-cigarettes.

Health Literacy in Younger Age Groups: Health Care Perceptions: Informed People Will Be More Prepared People

Background: Young people and adolescents are increasingly using digital platforms for various purposes, including health aspects, which is not linear about whether they consider health information important or understand it. Objectives: Exploratory study with 51 individuals aged 17 to 25 years to ascertain their perception of health issues. Methodology: For this study, a 10-question questionnaire survey was elaborated and distributed online via the Facebook Social Network to 51 male and female adolescents, aged 17 to 25, living in the Greater Lisbon area, college students. Conclusions and Relevance: Young people want to know about their health, but feel that they should do this research by themselves. On the other hand, health information research and using skills demonstrate a failure in both access to reliable information and processing and understanding.

Evidence Based Abortion Stigma Reduction Using Radio Drama in Nigeria

A substantial number of Nigerian women/ girls have unwanted pregnancies due to their low contraceptive prevalence. Many of these pregnancies are resolved through unsafe abortion. Unsafe abortion constitutes a huge burden to women's health and reproductive lives especially in Nigeria where it is perceived illegal. The media plays a significant part in shaping public perceptions of health issues, and abortion attracts continued media interest. The objective of this research was to explore the context of abortion stigma on campus using University of Benin as a reference point, through qualitative and quantitative research at baseline/ endline. In achieving this, related youth concerns on the campus that fuels unplanned pregnancy and unsafe abortion such as rape, none use of contraception, drug abuse and cultism were equally assessed to determine the level of stigmatization placed on perceived offenders. Findings were used to develop an intervention strategy on stigmatizing attitudes and beliefs about abortion. Following airing of 24 episodes radio drama on abortion and related concerns, findings were scored and interpreted using the Stigmatizing Attitudes, Beliefs and Actions Scale (SABAS). Our findings showed significant decrease in the negative dimensions and improvement in positive discuss of abortion following increased awareness and education on abortion and related concerns.

Media vs. reality

Abstract This study advances agenda-setting theory by applying it to understand the media influence on the public’s perception of health issues. The longitudinal analysis compared news indices, public opinion polls, and reality indicators in the United States from 2001 to 2010. The results show that news media, especially print media, did have some agenda-setting effects on the public’s health priorities. However, the coverage had little to do with reality and, ironically, the media representation of certain health issues showed an opposite trend to that of the reality indicators. These findings call into question the responsibility of journalists in providing a complete and proportional representation of health concerns.

The development of national multisectoral action plans for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases: experiences of national-level stakeholders in four countries

ABSTRACTBackground: In October 2012, the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) developed a Regional Framework for Action to implement multisectoral action plans (MAPs) for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).Objectives: The aim of this project was to draw on the experiences of four EMR countries that had made good progress in developing these MAPs, to identify best practice and barriers in the development of them.Methods: Structured interviews were held with key stakeholders in the development of the MAPs from the four focal EMR countries: Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan, and Yemen. These interviews comprised two stages: first we conducted face-to-face interviews in September 2014; we then carried out follow-up teleconference interviews during October 2014. Thematic analysis of transcripts was used to identify several themes, including examples of best practices and challenges that were common to all four focal countries and are likely to be also relevant to many other countries in the development of MAPs.Results: Best practice in the development of MAPs includes methods to identify and recruit key sectors, ways to foster collaboration between sectors in the development and implementation of the action plan and means through which to encourage public support. Challenges identified included measuring outcomes in evaluating MAP success, current pressures and competing priorities for sectors and the perception of health issues as the responsibility of the health sector. Cultural and bureaucratic challenges were also discussed along with multisectoral fatigue, through the promotion of multisectoral approaches for a number of national issues.Conclusions: Although the development of multisectoral action plans to tackle NCDs is recommended, the process is a challenging one. Reflections from those countries which have experience in developing such action plans is important in identifying common challenges as well as recommending best practice, such that other countries may learn from their experiences.

Assessing the Health Perspectives of Unique Populations of Adolescents: A Focus Group Study

Few articles report on youth's perceptions about health-related issues and needs and even fewer have given voice to youth with disabilities, chronic health conditions, or youth in therapeutic foster care. The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of health issues from the perspectives of youth placed in therapeutic foster care, youth with chronic medical conditions, and youth with disabilities. Twelve focus groups with 67 youth aged 13–20 were conducted in rural, suburban, and urban communities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Data analysis revealed both within unique group themes and themes that cut across unique groups. Youth in therapeutic foster care with chronic health conditions or with disabilities perceive themselves as being different from their peers. Participants in each group expressed concerns about the unique issues that they confront daily and how these challenges differentiate them from youth who do not share their life experiences. They expressed the desire for other youth to understand them better and to not treat them differently. Discussion and implications focus on the need to create programs to support the unique needs of these youth.

Health professionals, patients and chronic illness policy: a qualitative study.

This study investigates health professionals' reactions to patients' perceptions of health issues - a little-researched topic vital to the reform of the care of chronic illness. Focus groups were undertaken with doctors, nurses, allied health staff and pharmacists (n = 88) in two Australian urban regions. The focus groups explored responses to patient experiences of chronic illness (COPD, Diabetes, CHF) obtained in an earlier qualitative study. Content analysis was undertaken of the transcripts assisted by NVivo7 software. Health professionals and patients agreed on general themes: that competing demands in self-management, financial pressure and co-morbidity were problems for people with chronic illness. However where patients and carers focused on their personal challenges, health professionals often saw the patient experience as a series of failures relating to compliance or service fragmentation. Some saw this as a result of individual shortcomings. Most identified structural and attitudinal issues. All saw the prime solution as additional resources for their own activities. Fee for service providers (mainly doctors) sought increased remuneration; salaried professionals (mainly nurses and allied health professionals) sought to increase capacity within their professional group. Professionals focus on their own resources and the behaviour of other professionals to improve management of chronic illness. They did not factor information from patient experience into their views about systems improvement. This inability to identify solutions beyond their professional sphere highlights the limitations of an over-reliance on the perspectives of health professionals. The views of patients and carers must find a stronger voice in health policy.

Knowledge about and Attitudes towards Cosmetic Breast Surgery among Nigerian Undergraduates

Background: Cosmetic breast surgery (CBS) is rarely requested in our surgical practice. Local data on the practice of CBS is also scarce. Therefore, we embarked on this study to explore the issues and attitudes that might influence the decision of Nigerian undergraduates to undergo cosmetic breast surgery. Methods: Structured questionnaires were administered to undergraduates of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Information extracted included the participants' demographic data, awareness of CBS, attitudes about CBS, and perceptions regarding disproportionate breast size. These were analyzed using SPSS for Windows with simple descriptive statistics. Results: Of the 735 respondents, 71% were women and 28.7% were men. In addition, 90% had some knowledge of cosmetic breast surgery and 38% were aware of at least one person who had undergone CBS. Information sources included television, magazines, and radio. Only 14% of the surveyed participants acknowledged their approval of CBS. Reasons given for disapproval included no definite reason, cultural and religious arguments, inability to breast-feed after surgery, and interference with pregnancy. More than 50% of respondents thought CBS caused cancer. More than 70% knew at least one person that they thought had excessively small or large breasts, and half of these thought such persons might benefit from CBS. Conclusion: A number of issues affect a person's decision to undergo CBS. Social acceptance, interference with fertility, and perceptions of health issues appear to be important factors in the low approval rate of CBS in this population. It may be possible to extrapolate this information and compare it with other populations where media influence and public information are more available.

Australian rural consumers' perceptions of health issues.

The present paper explores the characteristics of rural residents and issues facing rural consumers. Analysis of census data and a survey of 499 rural residents across Australia suggests that cost is their major concern. Rural consumers indicated that they would like to access information through a variety of sources, but local media was the most preferred source. While many would like more consumer information, they would like to know how to access information when needed rather than have it on hand. Most were not concerned about complaint procedures, but many were found to be unaware of where to redress problems with health services.