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Research Labs

SITCH Lab

Researchers of the SITCH Lab examine Social and Interpersonal Theories of Communication in Health.

Analisa Arroyo

Primary Investigator: Analisa Arroyo

Current Projects: (1) Feminist Embodiment, Body Talk, and Body Image in Mothers and Daughters, (2) Relational Maintenance and Mental Health in Foster Parenting Couples, (3) Intergenerational Transmission of Race-related Attitudes, (4) and Maternal Wellbeing, Infant Temperament, and the Mother-Infant Relationship, and

Areas of Study for the Arroyo Lab include: Interpersonal Communication, Family Communication, Health Communication, Quantitative Approaches

Graduate Students:  Jessica FabbricatoreElle Johnson, Selena Pang

 

CHARM Lab (Communication, Health And emeRging Media)

Primary Investigator: Jiaying LiuJiaying Liu

The Communication, Health and Emerging Media (CHARM) lab examines the cognitive, emotional and social mechanisms underlying communication processes that shape people’s behaviors and health decision making against the backdrop of the current new media landscape. Employing self-report survey measures, online and eye-tracking lab experiments, computerized textual analysis, and neuroimaging methods, researchers in the lab focus on theory-based persuasive health message design, social media analytics to unveil and track user-generated health discussions, and identifying environmental and individual level factors contributing to health behavior outcomes. CHARM looks to identify ways in which communication could be optimally leveraged to promote desirable health behavior changes, especially among vulnerable, marginalized, and underserved groups.  

Current Projects: (1) Neuroimaging approaches to inform the development of anti-vaping campaign messages targeting young adult heavy e-cigarette users; (2) Eye-tracking studies on attention-grabbing, persuasive and viral social media messages; (3) A multi-methodological approach to study health warning labels on tobacco and cannabis products; (4) Unsupervised topic modeling on Instagram fitspiration posts; (5) Supervised machine learning on automatically classifying and longitudinally tracking tobacco-related mass and social media texts; (6) Online experiments to understand the underlying mechanisms of health-related social norm formation

Areas of Study for the CHARM Lab include: Health Communication, Risk Communication, Social Influence and Persuasion, Quantitative Approaches, Message Effects, Public Campaigns and Interventions, Message Production, Social Media

Graduate Students: Jessica Fabbricatore, Yidi WangAllison Worsdale

Communicating Uncertain Science to the Public (CUSP) Lab

Chelsea Ratcliff BushPrimary Investigator: Chelsea Ratcliff Bush

The CUSP Lab examines how uncertainties in biomedical evidence are communicated to the public, and how public audiences interpret and respond to this information. We address these questions using a mix of research methodologies, including message experiments, qualitative interviews, and media content analyses.

Areas of Study for the CUSP Lab include: Health Communication, Risk Communication, Health Disparities, Social Influence and Persuasion, Quantitative Approaches, Message Effects, Public Campaigns and Interventions, Message Production

Graduate Students: Rachel Bailey, Yidi Wang, Mik Davis

 

CONCHUS Lab

Primary Investigator: Soroya McFarlaneSoroya McFarlane

The Communication for Community Health and (shared) Understanding of Science lab facilitates dialogue with underserved communities to design and evaluate interventions that promote health.

Current Projects: THRIVE: Black Women's Maternal Health Disparity in the US;  Efficacy of LBGT culturally-targeted messages; COVID communication inequalities in the US

Areas of Study for the CONCHUS Lab include: Health Communication, Health Disparities, Quantitative Approaches, Qualitative Approaches, Public Health Campaigns and Interventions, Message Design, Community-engaged Research

Graduate Students: Andre FeddAllie Worsdale, Rebekah Wicke, Hannah Smith, Oyinade Adesina

 

 

Family, Identity, Resistance and Engagement Communication LabMackensie Minniear

Primary Investigator: Mackensie Minniear

The FaIRE Communication lab uses critical and intergroup theories to study how marginalized identities are shaped, dismantled, and reified by family communication in order to create a healthier and more tolerant world for historically disenfranchised families and people.

Current Projects: Developing an intervention to increase positive ethnic-racial identity and well-being in BIPOC; White racial socialization: Intentions and Practices over Time; Multiraciality

Areas of Study for the Minniear Lab include: Interpersonal Communication, Family Communication, Health Communication, Ethnicity-Race Communication, Quantitative Approaches, Qualitative Approaches, Intergroup Communication

Graduate Students: Timothy Pierce

 

Terui LabSachiko Terui

Primary Investigator: Sachiko Terui

Current Projects: (1) Health literacy screener for people living with HIV, (2) community-based health literacy interventions, (3) health challenges faced by underserved and/or marginalized populations, (4) linguistic and cultural aspects of health communication, and (5) environmental health literacy interventions. 

Areas of Study for Terui Lab include: Health Communication, Intercultural Communication, Language and Social Interaction, Qualitative Research Methods, Quantitative Research Methods

Graduate Students: Beauty AcheampongDivya S

 

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