RESEARCH STATEMENT
Leveraging interpersonal communication and mass media in health contexts, I study the impact of interpersonal conversations in cognitive processing of mass media campaign messages and how that affects perceptions of message effectiveness and future health behaviors.
My dissertation proposes an updated version of Hornik and Yanovitsky’s social diffusion model of campaign influence by examining the effect of campaign message evaluation and individual characteristics on an individual’s willingness to engage in campaign-related conversations with others, as well as testing the mediating role of conversation valence on an individual’s normative perceptions and subsequent behaviors.
As an acontextual researcher in health communication, I study sexual health communication, women’s sexual and reproductive health, cancer screening, rural health, minority health, health equity, and internet-based interventions. I have experience writing grants and conducting research in multi-disciplinary teams working to achieve health equity among vulnerable populations.
Besides continuing my research on campaign influence, social diffusion, and health equity, I will advance the lack of intermediately in diffusion and campaign research. My future research goals fall under three categories: 1) sources, 2) rate of adoption or behavior change, and 3) attributes and consequences. For research related to sources, I am interested in the strengths and weaknesses of interpersonal, mass, and media sources in generating exposure to and adoption of health behaviors. To expand the knowledge on behavior change, I want to further understand how and when campaign-related interpersonal conversations influence the adoption of health behaviors. Specifically, I study those attributes of interpersonal and mediated communication are most influential to the social diffusion of campaign messages and subsequent behavior change.
In future research, I will combine my expertise across qualitative and quantitative methods in my future research to promote health equity on the lives of lower socioeconomic status groups, rural, racial/ethnic, and sexual minorities