College Directory

Kim Walsh-Childers, Ph.D.

Professor - Department of Journalism

Office: 3044 Weimer Phone: 352-392-3924 Email:

Bio

Walsh-Childers has taught at UF since August 1990. Her primary teaching areas are journalism/mass media ethics, and a graduate seminar in mass media and health. Her research focuses on news coverage of health issues, mass media effects on individual health and health policy, and the relationship between mass media content and adolescent sexual beliefs and behavior. Her work has been published in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Newspaper Research Journal, Communication Research, Pediatrics, AIDS Education and Prevention, and the Journal of Adolescent Health Care. Walsh-Childers earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia and completed her master’s degree in journalism and doctorate in mass communication research at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Areas of Expertise

Editing (written), Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Health Communication, Reporting, Science Communication

Education

Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

News

Publications

Books, edited:
Sexual Teens, Sexual Media (2002).  Jane Brown, Jeanne Steele and Kim Walsh-Childers, (Eds.), Mahwah, NJ:  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers.

Journal Articles:

Merten, J.W., Walsh-Childers, K.B., Rodman, L., Birchwood, N.E., & Young, M.E. (2013). Rural breast cancer patients and survivors’ perspectives using online health resources. Journal of Women’s Health, Issues and Care 2:6. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2325-9795.1000124.

Michael Stellefson, PhD; Beth Chaney, PhD; Adam E Barry, PhD; Enmanuel Chavarria; Bethany Tennant; Kim Walsh-Childers, PhD; P.S Srira3, MD; Justin Zagora (2013). Web 2.0 Chronic Disease Self-management for Older Adults: A Systematic Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 15:2, 1-15;

Walsh-Childers, K., & Braddock, J. (2013). Competing with the conventional wisdom: Newspaper framing of medical overtreatment. Health Communication, DOI:10.1080/10410236.2012.730173.

Kang, H., & Walsh-Childers, K. (2012). Sun-care product advertising in parenting magazines: What information does it provide about sun protection? Health Communication, DOI:10.1080/10410236.2012.712878.

Walsh-Childers, K., Edwards, H., & Grobmyer, S. (2012). Essence, Ebony & O: Breast cancer coverage in black magazines. Howard Journal of Communication, 23:2, 136-156.

Walsh-Childers, K.; Lewis, N.P. & Neely, J. (2011). Listeners, not leeches: What Virginia Tech survivors needed from journalists. Journal of  Mass Media Ethics. 26, 191-205.

Walsh-Childers, K., Edwards, H., & Grobmyer, S. (2011). Covering women’s greatest health fear: Breast cancer information in consumer magazines. Health Communication, 26:3, 1-12.

  1.                 Robyn Goodman & Kim Walsh-Childers (2004). Sculpting the Female Breast: How College Women Negotiate the Media’s Ideal Breast Image. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81:3, 657-674.

Labre, Maggie, and Walsh-Childers, Kim. (2003). Friendly advice? Beauty messages in web sites of teen magazines. Mass Communication Review. 6:4, 379-396.

Treise, D., Walsh-Childers, K., Weigold, M., and Friedman, M. (2003). Cultivating the science Internet audience: Impact of brand and URL on source credibility for science information. Science Communication. 24:4 (Spring), 1-24.

Lepre, Carolyn Ringer; Walsh-Childers, Kim; Chance, Jean Carver. (2003). Newspaper coverage portrays managed care negatively. Newspaper Research Journal, 24:2 (Spring), 6-21.

Walsh-Childers, K., Chance, J., and Swain, K. (1999). Daily newspaper coverage of the organization, delivery and financing of health care, 1993. Newspaper Research Journal, 20:2 (Spring), 2-22.

Walsh-Childers, K., Treise, D., Swain, K., and Dai, S. (1997). Finding health and AIDS Information in the Mass Media: An Exploratory Study Among Chinese College Students. AIDS Education and Prevention, 9:6, 570-590.

Walsh-Childers, K., Chance, J., and Herzog, K. (1996). Women journalists report discrimination in newspapers,  Newspaper Research Journal, 17: 3-4, 68-87.

Walsh-Childers, K., Chance, J., and Herzog, K. (1996). Sexual harassment of women journalists. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 73:3, 559-581.

Treise, D., Walsh-Childers, K., Dai, S., and Swain, K. (1996). AIDS knowledge, attitudes and beliefs among Chinese college students. Health Marketing Quarterly, 13:3, 87-107.

Walsh-Childers, Kim. (1994). “Newspaper influence on health policy development: A case study investigation.” Newspaper Research Journal, 15:3, 89-104.

Walsh-Childers, Kim. (1994). “‘A Death in the Family’: A case study of newspaper influence on health policy development.” Journalism Quarterly, 71:4, 820-829.

Klein, J.D., Brown, J.D., Walsh-Childers, K., Oliveri, J., Porter, C., & Dykers, C. (1993). “Adolescents’ risky behavior and mass media use.” Pediatrics, 92:1, 24-31.

Brown, J.D., Walsh-Childers, K., Bauman, K. and Koch, G.C. “The influence of new media and family structure on young adolescents’ TV and radio use.” Communication Research, 17:1, February 1990, 65-82.

Brown, J., Walsh-Childers, K. and Waszak, C. “Television and adolescent sexuality.” Journal of Adolescent Health Care, 11, 1990, 62-70.

Research

Dr. Walsh-Childers primary research interests are in 1) how media, particularly news media, communicate health information to the public; 2) how the public uses news media information about health, including Internet-based information, to make health decisions; 3) how news coverage of health issues influences public health policy development; 4) how exposure to media content influences adolescent health behaviors. She also has a long-standing interest in the challenges women journalists face and how they respond to those challenges.

Research Keywords

Health journalism, science journalism, newspapers, magazines, mass media and adolescent health, media and public health, health policy, content analysis, mass communication, mass media, print media, journalism ethics, media ethics

Research Areas

  • Health and Science Communication

Courses

Syllabi from the current and three previous semesters: