Background: Avoiding health information is relatively common and is associated with lower knowledge of health risks and lower engagement in protective health behaviour. Health information avoidance likely limits the effectiveness of health communication interventions. Objective: To identify beliefs associated with avoiding health information.…

The introduction of smartphones has revolutionized how late adolescents (aged 18-21 years) access and use the internet. Vast troves of health information are today just a tap or swipe away, with smartphones and internet connectivity becoming increasingly accessible. The need for eHealth literacy among late adolescents is now gaining importance as…

Background: The success of public health campaigns to engender healthy behavior depends on effective communication of desired messages that inspire action utilizing health information that must be successfully understood. Research, however, illustrates that health guidelines are differentially interpreted, with health literacy and proclivities…

Objective: This study aimed to identify predominant search patterns in a recent search for health information and a potential search for strongly needed cancer information, to identify the commonly scanned sources of information that may represent stable elements of the information fields characteristic of these patterns, and to evaluate whether…

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…

We conducted an experiment to examine whether risk perceptions of alcohol-attributable cancer influence college students' binge-drinking intention and to explore how message formats (text, table, and graph) and numeracy influence risk perceptions of alcohol-attributable cancer. We found that a majority of participants (87%) perceive some risks of…

This dissertation evaluates the effectiveness of a customized educational health intervention on sexual health and female cancer prevention among young women in Pakistan and evaluates the applicability of the integrated model of behavior prevention (IM) when predicting three health behaviors among this population. The study used randomized…

Background: Cancer is a disease that is perceived negatively, especially in the African American community. Cultural attitudes, beliefs, and the lack of relevant health information all play a role in the extent of the negative perceptions of this multifaceted disease. Purpose: To conduct a qualitative assessment of the perceptions of cancer of…

Current evidence confirms that young women who smoke or who have regular long-term exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) have an increased risk of developing premenopausal breast cancer. The aim of this research was to examine the responses of young women to health information about the links between active smoking and SHS exposure and breast cancer…

Background: School-based human papillomavirus (HPV)/cervical cancer vaccination programs have been implemented widely, but few studies have investigated the knowledge and views of school staff about this new vaccine. Methods: Prior to the introduction of the HPV vaccine in 2009, we surveyed staff at 14 socioeconomically diverse schools to assess…

Objective: To assess students' human papillomavirus (HPV) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Participants/ Methods: Students (N = 1,282) at a large, public university in the Northeast United States completed a questionnaire during February 2008 assessing HPV knowledge, prevalence, transmission, cervical cancer risk and stigma; sexual behavior,…

Purpose: To identify women's sources of information about cervical cancer screening, information which women report receiving during Pap consultations, information they would like to receive, and the relationships between perceived information needs, personal characteristics and information sources. Design/methodology/approach: Logistic regression…