Fall 2020

Advances in technology have changed the way in which healthcare professionals and consumers access and use health information. Although healthcare professionals have already taken to social media to share healthy messages or to promote their work, TikTok poses a new set of opportunities and challenges. TikTok is a mobile video creation/sharing application that has grabbed the attention of young audiences around the globe. This study focuses on how healthcare professionals are using TikTok and how healthcare information is being portrayed on the short-video platform. Findings of this study indicate that healthcare professionals are following current online trends and posting videos on TikTok that include humor, self-criticism, and specific health content in meme-like forms to develop messaging that is likely to resonate with younger audiences. Mentor: Vanessa Bravo

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Sex-education programs in the United States aim to prevent risks such as sexually transmitted diseases and infections. Educational videos are often incorporated as part of sex-education curricula, and abstinence-based education has been endorsed by the federal government under the Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) program. This study examines eight sex-education videos from two abstinence-based sex education programs that are commonly used by programs receiving SRAE funding. Videos were analyzed for the presence of four health behavior and communication theories. This study also analyzed videos for the presence of SRAE program benefits such as “healthy relationships, goal setting, resisting sexual coercion,” among others. The videos were assessed using a qualitative content analysis and open-coding method. Findings suggest abstinence-based sex education videos often use fear appeals and tend to not emphasize the SRAE program benefits. Additionally, most videos portrayed ethnically diverse characters, mentioned love, or had a female main character. Mentor: Jane O’Boyle

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As consumers’ expectations for brands to take stances on social and political issues continues to grow, the trend of corporate social advocacy (CSA) is important to consider. This study examines two campaigns from outdoor retailers REI and Patagonia against “Black Friday” consumerism on the day after Thanksgiving. Through the lens of CSA, this qualitative case study explores company press releases, social media regarding the campaigns, and traditional media coverage. Individual user comments left on Patagonia’s and REI’s Instagram posts regarding the campaigns also were studied to determine how the campaigns were received. The findings shed light on the reaction of consumers when companies take stances on social issues that seem to risk their existence as businesses, and the importance of alignment between corporate goals and CSA. Mentor: Laura Lacy

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As society has realized, the internet is forever. This study analyzes the decisions and ethical guidelines top-tier student news organizations use when deciding whether to remove content from their online publications. This research reveals a lack of an industry-wide ethical standard for both professional and student newsrooms. In-depth interviews with student leaders delve into the questions and concerns weighed by these leaders when confronted with these ethical dilemmas. This paper compares the handling of these situations and creates a basic framework for student news organizations to follow when deciding these issues. Mentor: Harlen Makemson

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Coming out as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender is often a very complex and vulnerable aspect of an individual’s life. How this is represented in film can have significant impact, as film is often perceived as a perception of real events. Using a qualitative content analysis, this study analyzed ten films categorized by the Internet Movie Database as the top “coming out” films. The study sought to analyze how coming out, the reaction of others to a character coming out, the circumstances that pushed a character to come out, and the diversity of the primary characters each were portrayed in popular film. Mentor: Laura Lacy

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With the advent of social media, Generation Z is experiencing an unprecedented climate of virtually navigated dating experiences. This study examined the role social media has played in how Gen Z students engage in dating and relationships on college campuses. From a survey of 90 college students at eight universities in the U.S., the researcher investigated common dating trends, termination strategies, and perceptions of social media. Key findings revealed a trend toward pursuing casual romantic relationships, a tendency to use “ghosting” to terminate relationships, and an association between ghosting experiences and decreased emotional well-being. Overall, social media was not seen as having a positive influence on dating and relationships in Generation Z. Mentor: Byung Lee

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The Sunday morning talk shows have long been a platform for high-quality journalism and analysis of the week’s top political headlines. This research will compare guests between the first two years of Barack Obama’s presidency and the first two years of Donald Trump’s presidency. A quantitative content analysis of television transcripts was used to identify changes in both the political affiliations and profession of the guests who appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” CBS’s “Face the Nation,” ABC’s “This Week” and “Fox News Sunday” between the two administrations. Findings indicated that the dominant political viewpoint of guests differed by show during the Obama administration, while all shows hosted more Republicans than Democrats during the Trump administration. Furthermore, U.S. Senators and TV/Radio journalists were cumulatively the most frequent guests on the programs. Mentor: Jane O’Boyle

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Frequent and repeated exposure to media can influence perceptions of reality. Therefore, film portrayals that are incorrect and stigmatizing can contribute to the public’s unfavorable opinion of mentally ill individuals. This study focuses on the portrayal of dissociative identity disorder (DID) in films from the last 25 years. Through a content analysis, the author coded eight films to determine the prevalence of inaccurate stereotypes associated with DID and mental illnesses. The findings of this study suggest that misconceptions about violence, criminal behavior, extreme alternate identities, and treatment-related incompetence were frequently portrayed. Furthermore, disparagement was common, in which it was customary for other characters to ridicule the DID character. The recurrent use of negative stereotypes in the selected films suggest that the public may continue to have negative opinions about people suffering from DID. Mentor: Vanessa Bravo

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In early 2020, the World Health Organization declared an international public health emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak. Due to the novelty and quick spread of the coronavirus, people turned to news outlets for information regarding the severity and suggested safety measures. This study analyzed themes in news coverage of COVID-19 in the United States using framing theory. The research studied the styles and changes in framing from January 1, 2020 to the United States’ declaration of a state of emergency on March 13, 2020. The content analysis included 90 online articles from The New York Times, Fox News and CNN, which are among the most popular news sources for Americans. The study concluded that coronavirus news coverage focused on reporting the number of cases and deaths, the economic impact, and the actions governments took to prevent its spread. This study suggests that early coverage of a pandemic is more focused on the facts and immediate effects of the disease rather than the individual and personal stories of people dealing with the pandemic. Mentor: Harlen Makemson

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