Designing Interventions to Address the Spread of Anti Vaccine Views Online

Poster for Twitter chat on july 14th 2020

This month we are discussing what is a timely and growing concern–the spread of anti vaccine views online, after a hiatus of several months due to COVID-19 .  During our Twitter chat on July 14th at 6pm (PDT), we will be discussing the recently published article, “The Online Competition Between Pro- and Anti-Vaccination Views,” by … Read more

Depolarizing the discourse around child vaccinations

Pro vaccination and Anti vaccination, its not black and white

In this segment of my health communication blog series, I will summarize the findings of a meta-analysis that aims to examine parents’ opinions on child vaccinations.* The goal of this publication is to better understand how and why these opinions are formed. With their data the authors wish to challenge the idea that parents’ views … Read more

Health communication in a digital world- a case study for cardiac rehabilitation

Health coach mobile app

In this post I will summarize findings from a pilot study* that aims to use a phone application to increase patient participation in Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR).  The researchers measured the app’s feasibility, efficiency and integration into standard care. This study is an imperative voice in the discussion about implementing modern technology to improve healthcare efficiency … Read more

Investigating the effects of social media on mental health

Mental health and the internet

This article is a summary of a publication investigating the effects of social media on mental health.* It is no secret that academic research can lead to mental health issues and there is a serious stigma around mental health, preventing those suffering to speak out. Ultimately, addressing the mental health issue in academia requires communication … Read more

Issues with communication of human microbiome studies by popular science media and suggested solutions.

Human Microbiome

Issues with communication of human microbiome studies by popular science media have been addressed by a recent opinion piece in Nature Medicine, which is summarized in this article* If you are a movie buff like me, you’ve frequently come across the expression “In english, please!”  when a character is using jargon to explain something. This … Read more