Health activism: Investigating the role of hope and neighborhood-related perceptions in solving neighborhood health issues
Open Access
- Author:
- Kim, Youl Lee
- Graduate Program:
- Communication Arts and Sciences
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- March 01, 2021
- Committee Members:
- Mary Oliver, Outside Unit & Field Member
Denise Solomon, Major Field Member
James Dillard, Major Field Member
Rachel Smith, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Denise Solomon, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- health activism
hope appeals
communication infrastructure theory
collective efficacy
neighborhood storytelling system
social health issues - Abstract:
- The general goal of this dissertation was to understand how messages about social health issues can motivate health activism (i.e., communication with neighbors to address shared health concerns) by increasing hope and collective efficacy. I offered a novel model of health activism by engaging research rooted in persuasion and civic engagement, and investigated aspects of the model in three studies. Study 1 (presented in Chapter 2) examined the intended effects of three message features on hope and possible unintended message effects on other discrete emotions. Study 2 (presented in Chapter 3) explored how participants’ emotions change over time as a response to different message features (i.e., proximity cue and/or a combination of imagination prompt and recommended-actions information). Study 3 (presented in Chapter 4) tested the model of health activism in the context of lead-exposure risks in Pennsylvania. There are three critical findings across the three studies. First, people can feel hope about social problems. Second, exposure to the imagination prompt and recommended-actions information and perceptions of collective efficacy result in feeling more hopeful about social health issues. This finding suggests a new direction for hope appeals: messages that enhance efficacy perceptions increase hope because efficacy is an antecedent to hope. Third, more connections to a neighborhood’s storytelling network, stronger collective efficacy, and greater hope lead to stronger health activism. An overall reflection on the implications of these findings for theory and practice is presented in Chapter 5.