WORKING GROUP FOR HEALTH
COMMUNICATION
LORENDA
BELONE
Doctoral
student
ljoe@salud.unm.edu
Goal:
To
address health risk behaviors of American Indians by adapting and creating
culturally specific prevention and intervention programs
Health
Communication Interests:
- Community-based
participatory research
- Process evaluation
Current
and Pending Health Communication Projects
- Family intervention
trial of a culturally specific alcohol and other risky behavior prevention
program in partnership with Ramah Navajo Chapter and Jemez Pueblo
reservation
PATRICIA
O. COVARRUBIAS
Associate
professor
pocb@unm.edu
Goal:
To
understand how culture influences perceptions of interaction rules between patients and caregivers
Health
Communication Interests:
- Applying discourse
analysis to health interactions
- Intercultural
differences and cultural variability in perceptions of effective health
provider communication
Current
and Pending Health Communication Projects
- Evaluating the
effectiveness of a health campaign designed to enhance understanding of
the neuroscience of drug use
TAMAR
GINOSSAR
Adjunct
instructor
tginossar@yahoo.com
Goal:
To
understand and facilitate usage of new communication technologies for health
information seeking and empowerment in multicultural setting
Health
Communication Interests:
- Internet and computer
mediated communication
- Cultural influences
- Information seeking of
patient and family members
Current
and Pending Health Communication Projects:
- Exploring how women
cope with ovarian and breast cancer (with the University of Arizona)
- Examining the
influence of coping styles on usage of computer enhanced health
information system (With the University of Wisconsin)
- Investigating usage of
Internet Cancer Communities for health information exchange and
empowerment
- Online information and
support needs of family members of alcohol dependent individuals
CHRIS
HOLLIS
Doctoral
student
chollis@salud.unm.edu
Goal:
To
examine the connection of health literacy and health behavior
Health
Communication Interests:
- Social marketing and
prevention marketing
- Community-based
participatory research
Current
and Pending Health Communication Projects:
- Development of a
health literacy scale to evaluate effectiveness of health literacy
programs
- Media literacy for
health
KRIS
KIRSCHBAUM
Doctoral
student
kkirschbaum@salud.unm.edu
Goal:
To
examine how patient and providers individual and cultural communication
patterns and styles affect the provision of quality health care
Health
Communication Interests:
- Provider-patient
discourse
- Communication training
for health professionals
Current
and Pending Health Communication Project
- Training of medical
students in communication issues including use of invitational rhetoric,
narrative, and intercultural diversity
- Communication training
for medical residency programs
- Examination of
narrative and self-identity in geriatric populations
LISSA
KNUDSEN
Doctoral
student
lknudsen@unm.edu
Goal:
To
address stigma, labeling, and the identity construction of severe mental
illness (e.g. people labeled with Schizophrenia and Bi-Polar Disorder)
Health
Communication Interests:
- Disclosure/Contact as
a stigma reduction strategy
- Media representations
and identity construction
- Advocacy/Community-Based
Participatory Research
- Internet-based assessments
Current
and Pending Health Communication Projects
- Examining how police
offricers construct severe mental illness
- Advocating for breastfeeding/pumping
on university campuses
- Examining the relationship
between the John Hyde case and the passing of Kendra's Law in Albuquerque,
NM
PAMELA
LUTGEN-SANDVIK
Assistant
professor
plutgen@unm.edu
Goal:
To
understand the consequences of workplace bullying on the mental health of the
recipient and his/her family
Health
Communication Interests:
- Developing supportive
organizational cultures
Current
and Pending Health Communication Projects:
- Examining how family
members cope with a loved one being bullied at work
- Evaluating the
effectiveness of a health campaign designed to enhance understanding of
the neuroscience of drug use
GINNY
McDERMOTT
Assistant
professor
ginnymcd@unm.edu
Goal:
To
enhance supportive communication and create supportive environments at a
variety of levels, including communities, corporations, and relationships.
Health
Communication Interests:
- Health disparities
- Problem-talk and the
facilitation of coping
Current
and Pending Health Communication Projects:
- Preventing American
Indian adolescent substance use through peer-developed and
peer-implemented health communication campaigns
- Evaluating the
effectiveness of a health campaign designed to enhance understanding of the
neuroscience of drug use
- Examining narratives
of coping and perceptions of problem onset
UNA
MEDINA
Doctoral
student
iomedia@unm.edu
Goal:
To
address health communication and development communication in underdeveloped
communities in developed and developing countries
Health
Communication Interests:
- Digital divide
- Persuasive message
variation
- Diffusion of
innovations
Current
and Pending Health Communication Projects:
- A qualitative analysis
of the rhetoric of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Victim Impact
Presentation (MADD VIPP coupled with a quantitative analysis of drunk
drivers recidivism)
- Edited textbook on
development communication
JOHN
OETZEL
Professor
joetzel@unm.edu
Goal:
To
address health disparities, especially culturally-based disparities, with an
end goal of improved health and equal access for all groups.
Health
Communication Interests:
- Community-based
participatory research
- Developing and evaluating
health and social justice initiatives
Current
and Pending Health Communication Projects:
- Preventing American
Indian adolescent substance use through peer-developed and
peer-implemented health communication campaigns
- Mental health and
stigma campaign
- Evaluating the
effectiveness of a health campaign designed to enhance understanding of
the neuroscience of drug use
AUDREY
RIFFENBURGH
Doctoral
student (and consultant in health literacy/plain language)
ar@plainlanguageworks.com
Goal:
To
address the mismatch between the health literacy skills of U.S. adults and the
health literacy demands of attaining vibrant health. To address ways to increase the
use of plain language in health communication.
Health
Communication Interests:
- Usability
and readability of health information on the Internet
- The
application of plain language to create clear health communication
- Strategies
to communicate to providers, insurers, researchers, and others, the critical
need for clearer health communication, especially in light of the increasing
incidence of chronic diseases and the move toward more self-management of those
diseases
- Helping
adults with limited literacy skills educate health care providers about their
health information needs and abilities
Current
and Pending Health Communication Projects
DIVYA
SREENIVAS
Doctoral
Student
divyas@unm.edu
Goal: To use theoretically
grounded approaches in identifying communitiesÕ health needs and to develop and
implement health promotion interventions.
Health
Communication Interests:
- Community-based
participatory approaches
- Needs assessment and
evaluation research
- Health Communication
campaigns
Current
and Pending Health Communication Projects:
- Analyzing narrative
content of Edutainment productions using textual analysis and conducting
focus groups among select South Asians
- Using an interpretive
approach to understand barriers to addictions treatment among select
Native Americans
- A Quantitative
analysis of the role of spirituality in recovery from substance use
disorders for select Native Americans
- Using triangulation to
conduct nutritional needs assessment in a low-income Hispanic community to
prevent obesity
LYNN
WALTERS
Doctoral
student
walters@osogrande.com
Goal:
To
address dietary attitudes and behaviors among children, youth, and families
Health
Communication Interests:
- Community-based
participatory research
- Diffusion of innovations
- Developing and
evaluating health promotion programs
Current
and Pending Health Communication Projects
- Four-year research and
extension project, Cooking with Kids: Integrating Classroom, Cafeteria and
Family Experiences
- Development of Farmer
posters for school cafeterias as a means of promoting healthful foods and
rural economic development
OLAF WERDER
Associate
professor
owerder@unm.edu
Goal:
To
analyze, evaluate and design public health campaigns that pay attention to the recipients' perspective, understanding and position toward health and health environment in order to facilitate actual healthy lifestyle behavioral
changes.
Health
Communication Interests:
- Social marketing
- Health literacy and disparity
- Participatory (action) research
- Health psychology and policy
Current
and Pending Health Communication Projects:
- Health perception in the American culture and its effects on health communication
- Media-based educational curriculum development in combination with clinical management by primary care providers for overweight adolescents (ACTION project)
- Examination of the interaction effects of health literacy an the health policy framework of two countries
- Evaluation and analysis of a planned mental health stigma campaign for the Behavioral Health Services Division of the NM Human Health Service Department
W.
GILL WOODALL
Professor Ð C&J, Senior Scientist, Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse,
and Addictions (CASAA-UNM)
gwoodall@unm.edu
Goal:
To
understand how technology influences the success of health risk prevention
programs, particularly among adolescents and young adults; To examine a variety
of intervention and policy innovations that could reduce Driving While Intoxicated
events; To develop technology-driven interventions that would impact diet,
cancer prevention, obesity and diabetes among underserved minority populations
in New Mexico
Health
Communication Interests:
- Driving while
intoxicated prevention
- Responsible beverage
service research
- Internet approaches to
prevention interventions
Current
and Pending Health Communication Projects:
- Develop and test an
interactive website, based on Motivational Interviewing and Normative
Perception Correction principles, to reduce and prevent risky alcohol
consumption among college students.
- Develop a web-based
Responsible Beverage Service Training website and associated management
implementation website, and examine the efficacy of these websites in a
randomized field trial of on-premise alcohol service sites.
- Develop a specialized
web-based training for off-premise package liquor salespeople with the aim
to reduce package alcohol sales to intoxicated and underage patrons.
- Develop a website
designed to reduce cannabis use and prescription drug abuse among freshman
college students, and test the website in a randomized trial on two
college campuses. Review
results are anticipated in late October-early November 2006.
- Web-based substance
abuse and STD/HIV prevention.
For
a full list of completed and ongoing projects, please see Dr. Woodall's c.v. at either the
C&J or CASAA homepage on the UNM website.