Research performance
Grant related activities
Breast Cancer Information in Magazines and Websites
- Principal Investigator:
- Dr. Kim Walsh-Childers
- Granting Agency:
- National Cancer Institute
- Award Date:
- July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2007.
- Award Amount:
- $145,438
- Abstract:
Accurate information about breast cancer, including information related to risk assessment, diagnosis, treatment and long-term survivorship issues, can encourage women to adopt health promoting behaviors, aid women diagnosed with breast cancer in decision-making about treatment options, post-treatment self-care and emotional, psychological and physical recovery from the disease and help female family members of women diagnosed with breast cancer understand how to provide physical and emotional care for the breast cancer patient and assess and cope with their own risk. Previous research has revealed that throughout this cancer continuum from prevention to survivorship, most women would like to receive breast cancer information from health care professionals such as doctors or nurses. However, relatively few actually receive all the information they need from these authoritative sources. Instead, many women turn to family and friends or to mass media channels such as magazines, television or the Internet to obtain breast cancer information.
Relatively little is known about the specific types of breast cancer information women may find via these mass media channels. In the long term, it will be important to know what use women make of mass mediated information about breast cancer and how media portrayals of the disease affect women’s attitudes and behaviors related to prevention/detection, treatment decisions and recovery. In addition, research will be needed to determine how journalists’ knowledge, attitudes and experiences, as well as organizational and cultural factors, influence their coverage of breast cancer and health advocates’ ability to encourage better coverage. First, however, we need to understand what types of breast cancer information and messages women encounter in the media. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to assess the content, accuracy and comprehensiveness of breast cancer information available to women through two important media channels – women’s magazines and selected websites widely used by women.
The proposed study has five specific aims:
- to test the feasibility of the methods proposed for analyzing magazine and Internet content related to breast cancer
- to examine and compare the types of breast cancer information provided in women’s and consumer health magazines and popular websites
- to examine and compare the accuracy of breast cancer information provided in women’s and consumer health magazines and popular websites and determine what types of inaccuracies are most common in each medium
- to determine whether the breast cancer information provided in women’s and consumer health magazines and popular websites matches the information needs expressed by breast cancer patients, according to the existing literature
- to investigate how women’s magazines and websites portray breast cancer and breast cancer patients
Reducing Oral Cancer Disparities in Florida
- Project Coordinator:
- Dr. Youjin Choi
- Granting Agency:
- Grant awarded through the College of Dentistry and College of Health and Human Performance, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR, NIH)
- Award Date:
- September 24, 2004 - June 30, 2009.
- Abstract:
- This project seeks to begin closing some of racial disparities in oral cancer knowledge and screening rate by focusing on an area of the state that suffers a disproportionate burden of disease, exhibits substantial racial disparities, and is home to a large proportion of Florida’s African American community. The specific aims of the project are to: 1) use a social marketing approach to develop a mass media campaign on oral and pharyngeal cancer for a population at high risk for incidence and mortality, 2) increase the proportion of the target population that knows the major risk factors, signs, and symptoms of oral and pharyngeal cancer, and 3) increase the proportion of the target population that receives a clinical examination for oral and pharyngeal cancer.
CIBER Grant Related Activities
- Granting Agency:
- Grant awarded through the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), U.S. Department of Education Title VI Center, College of Business Administration, University of Florida (Principal Investigator: Carol West).
- Project Coordinator:
- Dr. Sylvia Chan-Olmsted
- Title:
- U.S. Competitiveness in the Global Wireless Telecommunications Market
- Award Date:
- October 1, 2006 - September 30, 2008.
- Project Coordinators:
- Marilyn Roberts and Juan Carlos Molleda
- Title:
- International public relations and advertising in Latin America
- Award Date:
- October 1, 2008 - September 30, 2009
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