Vietnamese Americans are disproportionately affected by preventable late-stage cancers. This study capitalizes on the protective role of family networks to develop an online social media family group chat intervention promoting cancer screening among Vietnamese American families. A feasibility study was conducted to assess implementing "Let's…

Little is known about how triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is discussed on the visual social media platform, Instagram. A greater understanding of the experiences of TNBC survivors that are documented on this platform may inform us of how this group of survivors cope with this rare, but aggressive form of breast cancer. This study analyzed a…

Effective communication between cancer patients and their healthcare professionals is an essential ingredient in providing quality medical care. There is a correlation between poor healthcare communication and chronic stress in cancer patients. Chronic stress impedes the human immune system and promotes tumor growth. There is also a negative…

Background: Numerous barriers to outpatient colonoscopy completion exist, causing undue procedure cancellations and poor bowel preparation. We piloted a text message navigation program to improve colonoscopy adherence. Method: We conducted a prospective study of patients aged 18 to 75 years scheduled for outpatient colonoscopy at an urban…

Health information is increasingly being shared online not just by credentialed sources such as physicians or health organizations, but also by patients with personal experience with a health concern. This dissertation proposes a new measure of vigilance-avoidance, or tendency to approach or avoid threatening stimuli, in order to understand how…

Over the last twenty years, medical discourse has attracted a great deal of scholarly research. Language in healthcare settings has been more generally analysed through genres--whether in terms of expert-to-expert or expert-to-lay communication--whereas more specific aspects include the study of discourse strategies behind the expression of…

Introduction: Health information-seeking and sharing online has become immensely intertwined with day-to-day information-seeking of US immigrants with health concerns. Despite the consistent recognition of unique health needs among different US immigrant communities, little is known about the distinctive patterns and extent of health information…

The Internet has been used extensively to offer health education content and also for social support. More recently, we have seen the advent of Internet-based health education interventions that combine content with structured social networking. In many ways this is the Internet equivalent to small group interventions. While we have some knowledge…

Information about cancer, the disease that kills more Americans than any other except heart disease, is essential. In some ways, information is our first line of defense. It allows us to identify individual risk factors, to note when a problem means we should see a professional, and to avoid activities that might put us at risk. However,…

These proceedings contain the papers and posters of the 22nd International Conference on e-Society (ES 2024) and 20th International Conference on Mobile Learning (ML 2024), organised by the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) in Porto, Portugal, during March 9-11, 2024. The e-Society 2024 conference aims to…

Background: Lack of education is a known barrier to vaccination, but data on the design and effectiveness of interventions remain limited. Objective: This study aims to identify the effectiveness of a Facebook-assisted teaching method on female adolescents' knowledge and attitudes about cervical cancer prevention and on their human papillomavirus…

Web-based collaborative annotation tools can facilitate communication among students and their instructors through online reading and communication. Collaborative reading fosters peer interaction and is an innovative way to facilitate discussion and participation in larger enrollment courses. It can be especially powerful as it creates an…

The two studies in this dissertation identify and address two related research gaps in literature on healthcare virtual support communities. Study one suggested that the exclusive emphasis on social support behavior and its impacts on individual well-being in virtual support communities has led to the neglect of another type of social interaction…

Introduction: Little is known about how group cohesion develops in online support group communities. Previous research suggests that message content, self-disclosure, and emotional expression may be central to this process. The purpose of this study was to identify linguistic and qualitative characteristics of participants' messages that…

This dissertation examines the impact of internet technologies on the field of health communication. Access and use of health communication technologies has and will continue to become increasingly important to manage and treat chronic conditions and other ailments, particularly in the context of health care reform that promotes improved quality…