Lillie D. Williamson

Our community suffers from a common problem – a disconnected, complex network of healthcare and human service providers that obstruct the community they intend to serve. The health sector and the h...

INTRODUCTION: Inclusion science has demonstrated the relative value of recruitment strategies, including engaging people from the intended study population to help shape recruitment materials. Yet, these studies rarely describe specific design and content features of visual recruitment materials. We aimed to experimentally test the effects of one simple design feature – the inclusion of a photograph of the principal investigator in visual recruitment materials – on willingness to participate in research. METHODS: We conducted this experiment in community settings, tabling at community events (community health fairs, back‐to‐school events, and sporting events), from December 2023 to January 2025. 192 people completed the experiment. RESULTS: The three‐factor interaction of photograph type, similarity to researcher, and researcher credibility had a significant effect on willingness to participate in a brain health research study. DISCUSSION: Results demonstrate strategies for improving the effectiveness of advertisements. First, findings demonstrate the role of researcher credibility and similarity to researcher in volunteers’ consideration of participation. Second, results suggest the use of researcher photographs in recruitment materials.

Background: Black women face a disproportionate burden of health issues, including higher rates of aggressive breast cancer and chronic stress–related conditions. This study examines how sociocultural identity and stressors impact health outcomes among Black women. Methods: Using a convergent mixed-methods design, we analyzed qualitative data from in-depth interviews with 50 Black women aged 18–49 and quantitative data from a similar subset of respondents to the 2022 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). Integrated analysis mixed Sort and Shift, Think and Shift qualitative analysis with analyses of covariance from the quantitative data. Results: Through integrated analysis, we developed a model of how sociocultural identities and experiences of Black women impact their health. The resulting quantitative analysis showed that race was associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms. Women who reported worse feelings about income, greater social isolation, or less meaning and purpose also scored higher with depressive indicators. Conclusion: The intersectional stressors Black women face contribute to adverse health outcomes, underscoring the need for culturally sensitive health interventions and policies that address the specific identity-based stressors affecting this population. Recognizing and addressing these unique stressors are essential steps for healthcare providers and policymakers to improve health equity. Such efforts are vital in reducing health disparities, especially in relation to aggressive breast cancer and other chronic conditions that disproportionately impact Black women.

Misinformation has been at the forefront of concerns for health communication scholars. Scholarship on misinformation, however, has focused on defining misinformation for research purposes and examining misinformation among the general public or ideological and religious subsets of the population. Black Americans have historical and present-day lived experiences that uniquely shape their experiences with misinformation. We conducted a thematic analysis of six community conversations, designed to center community priorities and solutions, to understand how Black Americans (N = 74) define and navigate health and science misinformation. Results indicated that community members defined misinformation more broadly than inaccurate information. It also encompassed incomplete or inapplicable information and was inextricably tied to racism. Community members hold earned mistrust but have a desire to learn how to navigate misinformation in light of this. Furthermore, they expressed individual and structural barriers to navigating misinformation. Both theoretical implications for health communication scholars and practical implications for partnering with Black communities to address misinformation are discussed.

Prejudice, broadly speaking, impacts all facets of life; health communication is no exception. Clinician implicit bias in domains like race and ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, sexual behavior, socioeconomic status, weight, and disability has been at the forefront of discussions about prejudice and health communication. This work has demonstrated how prejudice affects clinician-patient communication. The relationship between prejudice and health communication, however, extends beyond the clinical encounter. Prejudice also influences how we discuss issues, approach others, and support policies around stigmatized topics and health inequities. There are steps that clinicians, medical educators, and all of us can take to reduce the impact of prejudice. Yet, there remains work to be done - from examining the heterogeneity within groups to reflecting on how our biases and prejudice hinder our work alongside communities. Doing this work may move us closer to centering and partnering with those who have historically and persistently faced prejudice.

As the number of designated organ donors continues to lag behind the number of waiting list patients, teenagers remain a promising demographic of potential organ donors. The current study enlisted Michigan and Ohio driver education students to participate in an online digital learning intervention, License to Save Lives (LTSL). Students were randomly assigned to either an interactive or noninteractive LTSL intervention. Across both states, the pretest‐posttest design revealed greater knowledge among students following exposure to either the interactive or noninteractive LTSL program. No attitudinal or behavioral differences emerged between the interactive and noninteractive conditions. Michigan (39.82%) and Ohio (58.10%) students registered to be organ donors at a respectable rate. The results are discussed with an emphasis on feasibility and sustainability as well as the promise for digital games to promote organ donation knowledge, attitude, and registration among teenagers.

Most African countries report low COVID-19 vaccination rates (Msellati et al., 2022; WHO Africa; 2020). This study focuses on factors associated with vaccine hesitancy specifically in the country of Cameroon. Social media use and medical mistrust have been suggested as key variables that may increase vaccine hesitancy. Adopting the information-related perspective guided by the risk information seeking and processing model, the current research explored how social media use and medical mistrust are related to vaccine hesitancy among Cameroonians. Survey results from a sample of 1,000 Cameroonians fielded in early 2022 showed that social media use and medical mistrust were positively associated with belief in misinformation related to the COVID-19 vaccine. Belief in misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine was negatively associated with perceived information insufficiency. A positive relationship between perceived information insufficiency and information seeking, as well as a negative relationship between information seeking and vaccine hesitancy were also found. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.