PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

MU researchers find celebrity journalism may contribute positively to consumer health behaviors

2010-10-19
(Press-News.org) COLUMBIA, Mo. – Celebrity journalism is often considered to be without merit, discounted due to its sensational details and lack of news value. MU researchers now say that celebrity journalism may be an underappreciated way to communicate health messages. In a recent award-winning paper, Amanda Hinnant, assistant professor of magazine journalism in the University of Missouri School of Journalism, found some readers of celebrity health stories report that the stories have an impact on their own behavior and how they discuss health issues.

Amanda Hinnant, assistant professor of magazine journalism in the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Hinnant, with co-author Elizabeth Hendrickson from the University of Tennessee, utilized focus groups that discussed various celebrity health news stories and how each story affected the participants. Previous research had indicated that after a person read a health news story, they would then seek out interpersonal advice from a friend or family member before deciding to change their health behaviors. Hinnant says celebrity health stories could circumvent that step. "Based on the discussion of participants, we observed that it is possible for celebrities to serve as surrogate interpersonal contacts for people," Hinnant said. "Therefore, it would be less likely for a consumer of celebrity media to check with a friend or family member before changing a health behavior based on a mass-mediated message. The presence of a celebrity in a health story could serve as that interpersonal contact for the reader." Hinnant says participants in her research demonstrated how they took celebrity health behaviors seriously, weighing the moral implications and mitigating circumstances of a celebrity's life before judging a health behavior. Her study also revealed how the readers are an active audience, one that considers context instead of just conduct. Hinnant believes a person may be more likely to respond to a celebrity health story if that person has past experience with the specific issue in question. "A story about a celebrity's postpartum health behavior will likely elicit stronger reactions from consumers with children than from those without," Hinnant said. "Similarly, a story about a celebrity experiencing addiction may stimulate a stronger response from consumers who have witnessed a similar circumstance. In these cases, the health messages likely have different effects on experienced consumers than non-experienced consumers." Hinnant believes celebrity health messages play an important role in society, in that for many celebrity media consumers, they are a catalyst for discussions about health information. She says her research indicates that reaction to health messages is often linked to a consumer's own experience with the communicated health behavior.

Hinnant's paper was presented at the The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference. Her paper won first place for the Best of Entertainment Studies Interest Group at the conference.

INFORMATION: END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Call for long-term view on 'dire' funding of biological research databases

2010-10-19
A rethink is needed on the 'dire' situation of funding of databases across biology, researchers say. A paper co-authored by Sabina Leonelli, Research Fellow at Egenis at the University of Exeter, reviews the business models currently used to deal with long-term sustainability of these resources, and suggests a 'global change' in funding policies is necessary. "There is no point investing resources into collecting data, if the development of tools needed to disseminate and interpret those data is not supported. In this sense, building appropriate cyberinfrastructure ...

Demand for radiation therapy projected to outpace supply of radiation oncologists

2010-10-19
HOUSTON - Between 2010 and 2020, the demand for radiation therapy will exceed the number of radiation oncologists practicing in the U.S. tenfold, which could profoundly affect the ability to provide patients with sufficient access to treatment, according to new research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The study, published in the October 18, 2010 issue of The Journal of Clinical Oncology, estimates that over the next decade, the number of cancer patients requiring radiation therapy will increase by 22 percent, while the number of full-time equivalent ...

Type 2 diabetes and insulin use are associated with colorectal cancer in men

2010-10-19
There is an association between type 2 diabetes mellitus and colorectal cancer (CRC) among men, but not women, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute. In 2000, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes was approximately 171 million worldwide, and 366 million people are projected to have the disease by 2030. Obesity, western-style diet and lack of physical activity are established risk factors for CRC. Hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, which are especially pronounced during the early ...

Scientists closer to grasping how the brain's 'hearing center' spurs responses to sound

2010-10-19
Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. – Just as we visually map a room by spatially identifying the objects in it, we map our aural world based on the frequencies of sounds. The neurons within the brain's "hearing center"—the auditory cortex—are organized into modules that each respond to sounds within a specific frequency band. But how responses actually emanate from this complex network of neurons is still a mystery. A team of scientists led by Anthony Zador, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Neuroscience program at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has come a step closer ...

Latinas: 'Cancer was just meant to be'

2010-10-19
Fatalism may prevent women from Latin American descent – Latinas - from using cancer screening services, according to Karla Espinosa de los Monteros and Dr. Linda Gallo from San Diego State University in the US. Their review (1) shows that women who are pessimistic about preventive health practices and disease outcomes are less likely to have been screened for cervical, breast and colorectal cancer. The research is published online in Springer's International Journal of Behavioral Medicine. Latinas have some of the lowest cancer screening rates in the United States. They ...

Mount Sinai researchers discover why cocaine is so addictive

2010-10-19
Mount Sinai researchers have discovered how cocaine corrupts the brain and becomes addictive. These findings—the first to connect activation of specific neurons to alterations in cocaine reward—were published in Science on October 15. The results may help researchers in developing new ways of treating those addicted to the drug. Led by Mary Kay Lobo, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and first author of the study, researchers found that the two main neurons (D1 and D2) in the nucleus accumbens region of the brain, ...

Egg allergy: Not a reason to avoid flu vaccine after all

2010-10-19
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Having an egg allergy is not a reason to avoid getting the 2010-2011 flu vaccination. According to new recommendations by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology website, anyone with a history of suspected egg allergy should first be evaluated by an allergist or immunologist for appropriate testing and diagnosis but can probably receive the vaccination. Matthew J. Greenhawt, M.D., M.B.A., clinical lecturer at the University of Michigan Health System and James T. Li, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Division of Allergic Diseases in the Department ...

Intestinal enzyme helps maintain population of beneficial bacteria

2010-10-19
An enzyme that keeps intestinal bacteria out of the bloodstream may also play an important role in maintaining the normal microbial population of the gastrointestinal system. Since the loss of beneficial bacteria that usually results from antibiotic therapy can sometimes lead to serious health problems, a treatment that maintains microbial levels could have significant benefits. "Our mouse studies confirmed that giving this enzyme by mouth keeps the gut healthy, in terms of the microbes that usually live there," says Richard Hodin, MD, of the Massachusetts General Hospital ...

Breakthrough: With a chaperone, copper breaks through

2010-10-19
Information on proteins is critical for understanding how cells function in health and disease. But while regular proteins are easy to extract and study, it is far more difficult to gather information about membrane proteins, which are responsible for exchanging elements essential to our health, like copper, between a cell and its surrounding tissues. Now Prof. Nir Ben-Tal and his graduate students Maya Schushan and Yariv Barkan of Tel Aviv University's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology have investigated how a type of membrane protein transfers essential ...

Can naturally raised beef find its place in the industry?

2010-10-19
URBANA – As consumer demand for naturally raised beef continues to increase, researchers at the University of Illinois have discovered that naturally raised beef can be produced effectively for this niche market as long as a substantial premium is offered to cover additional production and transportation costs. Naturally raised beef is produced without hormones or antibiotics, whereas traditional systems take advantage of technologies the industry offers such as ionophores like Rumensin® to improve feed efficiency and implants to improve gain and efficiency. "Producers ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Researchers show complex relationship between Arctic warming and Arctic dust

Brain test shows that crabs process pain

Social fish with low status are so stressed out it impacts their brains

Predicting the weather: New meteorology estimation method aids building efficiency

Inside the ‘swat team’ – how insects react to virtual reality gaming 

Oil spill still contaminating sensitive Mauritius mangroves three years on

Unmasking the voices of experience in healthcare studies

Pandemic raised food, housing insecurity in Oregon despite surge in spending

OU College of Medicine professor earns prestigious pancreatology award

Sub-Saharan Africa leads global HIV decline: Progress made but UNAIDS 2030 goals hang in balance, new IHME study finds

Popular diabetes and obesity drugs also protect kidneys, study shows

Stevens INI receives funding to expand research on the neural underpinnings of bipolar disorder

Protecting nature can safeguard cities from floods

NCSA receives honors in 2024 HPCwire Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards

Warning: Don’t miss Thanksgiving dinner, it’s more meaningful than you think

Expanding HPV vaccination to all adults aged 27-45 years unlikely to be cost-effective or efficient for HPV-related cancer prevention

Trauma care and mental health interventions training help family physicians prepare for times of war

Adapted nominal group technique effectively builds consensus on health care priorities for older adults

Single-visit first-trimester care with point-of-care ultrasound cuts emergency visits by 81% for non-miscarrying patients

Study reveals impact of trauma on health care professionals in Israel following 2023 terror attack

Primary care settings face barriers to screening for early detection of cognitive impairment

November/December Annals of Family Medicine Tip Sheet

Antibiotics initiated for suspected community-acquired pneumonia even when chest radiography results are negative

COVID-19 stay-at-home order increased reporting of food, housing, and other health-related social needs in Oregon

UW-led research links wildfire smoke exposure with increased dementia risk

Most U.S. adults surveyed trust store-bought turkey is free of contaminants, despite research finding fecal bacteria in ground turkey

New therapy from UI Health offers FDA-approved treatment option for brittle type 1 diabetes

Alzheimer's: A new strategy to prevent neurodegeneration

A clue to what lies beneath the bland surfaces of Uranus and Neptune

Researchers uncover what makes large numbers of “squishy” grains start flowing

[Press-News.org] MU researchers find celebrity journalism may contribute positively to consumer health behaviors