Research Publication Roundup: January 2022

A vibrant and collaborative interdisciplinary research culture at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media creates new knowledge, advances scholarship and helps reinvent media.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced a shift to online learning at colleges and universities in 2020, Associate Professor Lois Boynton and Adjunct Instructor Marshéle Carter (pictured) examined the impact on service-learning courses, resulting in a recently published article. Associate Professor Nori Comello, meanwhile, has published three recent articles, collaborating with current graduate students, alumni and former faculty member Lucila Vargas. More details on these studies are listed below, along with a list of other recently published or presented scholarship by UNC Hussman faculty and students.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Boynton, L. A., & Carter, M. (2021). The pandemic pivot: How teachable moments in a service-learning course provided an opportunity for student growth. Journal of Public Relations Education, 7(3).
Service-learning courses offer real-world interactions with peers and clients, and students make considerable gains in these courses. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020 caused established service-learning courses to adapt to social distancing, quarantines and nonprofit closures. The researchers assessed the content and themes of undergraduate student reflection essays, finding that students were able to learn lessons from the experience. The implication of those lessons – and recommendations for educators – are discussed.

Comello, M. L. G., Kelly, K. J., & Kresovich, A. (2021).  Mixed-media approaches to social marketing.  In C. Fourali & J. French (Eds.). The Palgrave encyclopedia of social marketing. Palgrave Macmillan.
In this reference entry, the authors describe a mixed-media approach to a social marketing campaign, arguing that people are embedded in broader landscapes. As individuals shift between domains, so too should social marketing approaches. The application of the approach and a real-world example are included. 

Cornacchione Ross, J., Lazard, A. J., King, J. L., Noar, S. M., Reboussin, B. A., Jensen, D., & Sutfin, E. L. (2021). Responses to pictorial vs. text-only cigarillo warnings among a nationally representative sample of young adults. Tobacco Control.
Despite evidence of the effectiveness of pictorial warnings in cigarette packaging, the US Food and Drug Administration only requires six text-only warning products for cigar products, including cigarillos. In this study, the researchers randomized a nationally representative sample of US young adult (ages 18-29) cigarillo users and susceptible non-users to one of three conditions: text only or one of two pictorial conditions. Participants who saw one of the two pictorial warnings reported more negative emotional reactions and higher perceived message effectiveness than the text only warnings. Effects were largest for participants who had used in the past 30 days. The researchers conclude that pictorial warnings are superior to text-only warnings for cigarillos. 

Hursting, L., & Comello, M. L. G. (2021). Creating narrative entertainment for health communication: Perspectives from practice. Journal of Creative Communication, 16(3) 249–265.
Though entertainment programming often contains health storylines, these dual perspectives are usually not studied in tandem. The researchers conducted six in-depth interviews with entertainment industry and health professionals who have experience in creating these storylines. Three themes emerged: (1) creating teams of complementary strengths, (2) knowing your audience and (3) integrating the content in authentic ways. Guidelines for narrative development, pre-production, content creation and dissemination are included.

Kresovich, A., Sanzo, N., Brothers, W., Prentice-Dunn, H., Boynton, M. H., Sutfin, E. L., Sheeran, P., & Noar, S. M. (2021). What’s in the message? An analysis of themes and features used in vaping prevention messages. Addictive Behaviors Reports.
Various government agencies at federal, state and local levels, as well as non-governmental organizations, have created a plethora of vaping prevention messages aimed at youth in the United States. The researchers coded 220 messages from these various sources for presence or absence of message themes, imagery, text features, message perspective and other. The most common themes were nicotine addiction, chemicals, health effects and industry targeting. Most of the messages included an image. Implications for future research are discussed.

Morgan, J. C., Jeong, M., Baig, S. A., Mendel, J., Noar, S. M., Ribisl, K. M., & Brewer, N. T. (2021). Impact of anti-littering messages on cigarette packs.  Addictive Behaviors. 
Tobacco butts are commonly littered, which poses an environmental and public health hazard. The research team sought to assess the impact of requiring anti-littering messages on the cigarette pack on smokers’ littering intentions. A sample of U.S. adult smokers were randomized to receive one of two cigarette-pack labels for three weeks: anti-littering messages or cigarette smoke chemical messages. Participants in the anti-littering message labels condition reported higher intentions to refrain from littering in the next month. Additionally, the anti-littering messages led to increased number of conversations about littering and to decreased littering from car windows. However, participants who saw the anti-littering messages didn’t completely stop littering cigarette butts. Implications for policy are discussed.

Vargas, L., Comello, M. L. G., & Porter, J. (2021). The Web’s potential to provide depression literacy resources to Latinx teens: A missed opportunity? Howard Journal of Communications, 34(4), 366-38.
Among all U.S. adolescents, Latinos have the highest levels of depression and the lowest access to treatment. Internet-based educational resources could help reduce this disparity, but little is known about the quality and availability of mental-health resources targeting Latinos. The researchers conducted a qualitative analysis of 330 search-engine results. Almost half (48%) were news stories about youth suicides. Two results targeted Latino youth specifically; however, they were of suboptimal quality. The lack of educational resources contributes to existing disparities, and the need for better resources is discussed.

Zhao, X., & Chen, Y. R. (2022). How brand-stakeholder dialogue drives brand-hosted community engagement on social media: A mixed-methods approach. Computers in Human Behavior.
It is still largely unknown how communicative interactions on social media between digital brands and stakeholders affect online brand community engagement, such as likes, shares and comments. In this paper, the researchers analyzed Facebook data to understand the effects of these interactions on community engagement. Three mechanisms, including replacement, reciprocity and sentiment, explained the role of these interactions on community engagement. Brands that used videos received more positive sentiments than those that didn’t. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.