College of Arts & Humanities
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
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Item COMMUNICATING THE RISKS AND BENEFITS OF PRESCRIPTION OPIOID USE: SELF-CATEGORIZATION AS AN INTRINSIC MESSAGE FEATURE THAT INFLUENCES CONSTRUAL LEVEL(2020) Stanley, Samantha Joan; Atwell Seate, Anita; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The opioid crisis presents a challenge for risk communicators because the judicious short-term use of prescription opioids for noncancer pain may benefit quality of life but also poses risks such as the development of opioid use disorder, thus prompting calls for messaging to reduce the demand for prescription opioids. Communicating the possibility for benefits of short-term prescription opioid use and the risks is therefore ethically required, but message characteristics that simultaneously reduce the demand for opioids while offering complete information about its benefits would be most useful and ethical. Construal level theory posits that altering the level of abstraction of one’s mental representation of a choice meaningfully affects one’s cognitions and behaviors regarding said choice. However, in this theoretical framework changing the mental representation of a choice is usually achieved by methods unsuitable for public health messages that are communicated to a large audience (e.g., priming or changing the characteristics of a choice to be more psychologically distant) or interpersonally. Recognizing the limitations of these approaches, I suggest that self-categorization with its focus on self-construals at increasingly abstract levels may act as a potential intrinsic message feature that can affect construal level without altering the characteristics of the choice being evaluated. A thought-listing pilot study demonstrated that self-categorizing at the relational (i.e., significant other) versus subordinate level (i.e., individual) affects the type of salient behavioral beliefs. Study 1 experimentally demonstrated that altering self-categorization changes the extent to which participants focus on the pros of prescription opioid use (high construal level beliefs) but not their focus on the cons of use or psychological distance. However, psychological distance, pro focus, and con focus all predicted intent to use prescription opioids. Study 2 experimentally demonstrated that altering self-categorization in a message about pros and cons of using prescription opioids significantly indirectly predicted attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control over prescription opioid use mediated by identity salience. Attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control in turn predicted behavioral intent to use prescription opioids. This dissertation integrates construal level theory and self-categorization theory to provide an intrinsic message feature that alters behavioral intention to use prescription opioids.Item CREATIVE PERSUASION: ENHANCING WELL-BEING AND SELF-EFFICACY THROUGH THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE(2018) Ganzermiller, Josie Deanna; Khamis, Sahar; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This manuscript is intended as a first step in exploratory research to examine the efficacy of creative performance in entertainment-based health interventions, as well as the cognitive mechanisms for that efficacy. Creative performance for the purposes of this study is defined as engaging in an activity that requires the participant to use his or her body to creatively portray a character and/or enact a message. While much is known about the efficacy of entertainment-based health interventions, less empirical work has focused on how merely participating in creative performance promotes well-being. Well-being is psychological and mental health, which is more than the absence of mental disorder or disease, but rather the state of "optimal psychological functioning and experience" (Ryan & Deci, 2001). This document outlines a panel study that evaluates the degree to which active involvement in an immersive theatre camp leads to increases in well-being and self-efficacy for adolescents, as well as the theoretical basis for expecting such a result. A front matter table (p. vii) provides a reference for the key concepts and variables included in the study. The following chapters expand on the rationale for this work, including entertainment-education, benefits of creative performance, and the importance of well-being in adolescence.Item IMPROVING CHRONIC ILLNESS MEDICATION ADHERENCE: A COUNTERFACTUAL THINKING-BASED MODEL OF PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION(2017) Iles, Irina; Nan, Xiaoli; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The World Health Organization estimates that, by 2020, the number of Americans affected by at least one chronic condition requiring medication therapy will grow to 157 million. Effective medications are a cornerstone of prevention and disease treatment, yet only about half of patients take their medications as prescribed, resulting in a common and costly public health challenge for the U.S. health care system. As with much of health care, drug adherence is primarily about human behavior. Therefore, patients who lack motivation to take their medication as prescribed cannot be forced or simply educated to take their medication; they must be persuaded and motivated to do so. However, existing literature on how persuasion-based behavioral change can be achieved for non-adherent patients is sparse. To help build more evidence on how effective communication can be used to promote drug adherence for patients who have been diagnosed with chronic illness, this research tested the effectiveness of counterfactual thinking as a message design strategy aimed at increasing drug adherence among individuals at risk for nonadherence. Findings from experiments 1 and 2 showed no effect of counterfactual thinking on medication adherence. Findings from experiment 3 showed that, in a sample of 303 patients with type 2 diabetes at risk for nonadherence, messages including upward counterfactual thinking (e.g., “if only I had taken my medication as prescribed, I would not be in the hospital right now!”), compared to messages including downward counterfactual thinking (e.g., “it could have been worse and I could have died!”) or no counterfactual thinking, increased perceptions of medication adherence self- and response efficacy, and behavioral intention to take one’s medications as prescribed. Counterfactual thinking-based messages are a promising and easy to use persuasion strategy for patients who are at risk for nonadherence. Counterfactual thinking can be incorporated in interventions aimed at increasing adherence, and in doctor-patient or pharmacist-patient communications. Future studies should replicate these findings patients who have other chronic illnesses. Furthermore, measuring actual medication adherence behavior as opposed to behavioral intention, would provide a better indicator of the effectiveness of counterfactual thinking in increasing adherence.