Commercial Voice Assistants’ Answers to Health-related Questions in Noncommunicable Disease Management: Factorial Experiment Assessing Response Rate and Source of Information (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Complications related to noncommunicable diseases are among the main causes of mortality. Fostering patients’ access to health-related information through efficient and accessible channels like commercial voice assistants (CVA) such as Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, or Google Assistant, may support patients’ ability to make health-related decisions and manage their chronic conditions. OBJECTIVE This study aims to evaluate the ability of CVAs in providing expertise-based voice responses to questions related to noncommunicable disease management. METHODS We collected health-related frequently asked questions from health organizations, government, medical non-profit and popular websites about conditions associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), lung cancer (LC), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes mellitus (DM), cardiovascular disease (CVD), kidney disease (KD), and cerebrovascular disease (CV). The questions were then validated with practicing medical specialists and the most frequent ones selected, resulting in a pool of 144. We submitted the selected questions to CVAs in a 3x3 fractional factorial design experiment with three developers (ie, Amazon, Apple, and Google) and three modalities (ie, voice-only, voice-and-display, display-only). The condition Google display-only was operationalized with Google Search (our gold standard of information lookup). We assessed whether the CVA provided a voice response (ie, response rate) and what type of web source was used (ie, Expert, Commercial, Crowdsourced, or Not stated). RESULTS Amazon and Google showed a slightly higher voice response rate in voice-only (76.4% and 97.2%, respectively), compared to voice-and-display (74% and 92.4%, respectively). Apple showed the opposite (16% voice-only, 16.7% voice-and-display). Source type was mostly Expert in Amazon (77.3% voice-only, 76.6% voice-and-display) and Google (70.7% voice-only, 73.7% voice-and-display). Apple mostly used Commercial (30.4% voice-only, 29.2% voice-and-display), Crowdsourced (21.7% voice-only, 33.3% voice-and-display) sources, or stated no source (39.1% voice-only, 29.2% voice-and-display). Moreover, Amazon showed the highest response rate for LC (88%), while Apple did so for COPD (20%), and Google for AD (100%). Amazon and Google always used Expert sources for AD, while Apple never did so. However, Apple used the most Expert sources for CD (50%). CONCLUSIONS None of the tested CVAs was the absolute best in responding to questions about noncommunicable disease management. CVAs seem to perform differently depending on the noncommunicable disease in question. We urge health organizations to collaborate with Google, Amazon, and Apple to allow their CVAs consistently providing reliable answers to health-related questions on noncommunicable disease management.

The power of primary definers: How journalists assess the pluralism of economic journalism

After the financial crisis, journalism scholarship has extensively pointed out how the journalistic debate on economic policy has been dominated by a strong emphasis on austerity and a limited range of elite sources. Building on 19 semi-structured interviews with Finnish political and economic journalists, this article examines how journalists themselves evaluate the pluralism of the economic policy debate. This article shows how journalists covering economic policy are critical when evaluating the level of pluralism in economic journalism, referring to a narrow range of expert sources and a widely shared economic policy consensus. These findings testify to the ability of ‘primary definers’ to set the boundaries of ‘legitimate controversy’ in economic journalism. Also, the interviews show how ruptures in economic policy, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting vast amount of monetary and fiscal stimulus, create space for more pluralism in economic journalism.

Reporting familicide-suicide in broadcast media: An Irish case study to inform better practice

News media coverage plays an important role in the public recognition of intimate partner homicide (IPH) and familicide as crimes. However, studies find that news coverage typically fails to contextualise these crimes, relies on non-expert sources, and often engages in victim-blaming. Existing studies have primarily investigated print media. The lack of attention to broadcast media is significant because broadcast news attracts a larger share of public attention and it relies on distinct routines and practices that may influence coverage. To address this gap, this study presents an in-depth analysis of the broadcast news coverage surrounding a 2016 case of familicide-suicide in Ireland. Our analysis identifies patterns of decontextualisation, non-expert sourcing and perpetrator exoneration. Specifically, coverage decontextualised the crime through an emphasis on the family and the response of the community and through the privileging of (male) local sources, including male religious voices, over expert sources. Although victim-blaming was not very explicit, coverage frequently exonerated the perpetrator through references to his good character. Thus, we find that broadcast news replicates the patterns of print news and that the preference for on-the ground reporting privileged sources who were proximate to the crime rather than those who could provide an expert understanding of it. These findings are discussed in terms of efforts to change media practices for more accurate representations of IPH and familicide in news media.

The Gender of COVID-19 Experts in Newspaper Articles: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Pre-existing gender-based disparities in academia may have worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is anecdotal and peer-reviewed evidence that women in academia have been underrepresented in prestigious, pandemic-related opportunities. Being citated as an expert source in newspaper articles about COVID-19 may increase an individual's research or leadership profile. In addition, visibility in a newspaper article is an important component of representation in academia. Objective: We sought to determine whether women were underrepresented as COVID-19 expert sources in print newspapers in the United States. Design: We undertook a cross-sectional study of English-language newspaper articles that addressed the COVID-19 pandemic that were published in the top ten most widely read newspapers in the United States between Apr 1 and Apr 15, 2020. Main Measures: We extracted the names of all people cited as expert sources and categorized each expert sources as men, women, or another gender based on pronoun usage within the article or on a business, university, or organization website. Key Results: Of 2,297 expert sources identified, 35.9% (95% CI 33.9-37.8%; n=824) were women, 63.7% were men (95% CI 61.8-65.7%; n=1,464) and for 0.4%, gender could not be assigned (n=9). After removing duplicate experts, 1,738 unique individuals were cited, of which 34.6% were women (95% CI 32.3-36.8%; n=601), 64.9% were men (95% CI 62.7-67.1%; n=1,128), and 0.05% whose gender was unknown (n=9). Of articles with multiple experts referenced (n=374), 102 cited only men experts (27.3%) and 44 cited only women experts (11.8%).Conclusions: Altogether, this result supports that men are overrepresented compared to women as COVID-19 experts in newspaper articles.

How Information Sources, Risk Perception, and Efficacy Appraisal Predicted Engagement in Protective Behaviors Against COVID-19: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Survey in China (Preprint)

BACKGROUND As the COVID-19 pandemic has become a major public health threat worldwide, it is critical to understand what factors affect individual engagement in protective actions. Because of its authoritarian political system and state-owned media system, how Chinese individuals engaged in protective actions against COVID-19 might be different compared to other countries. OBJECTIVE The purpose of the present study is to examine how the source of information about COVID-19, Chinese individuals’ risk perception of COVID-19 (i.e., perceived severity and perceived susceptibility), and their efficacy appraisal in controlling COVID-19 (i.e., response efficacy and self-efficacy) affected their engagement in protective actions. Additionally, this study aims to investigate whether there is any difference in these relationships throughout the duration of this pandemic. METHODS A six-wave repeated cross-sectional survey (N = 1942) was conducted in six major cities in China between February 7 and April 23, 2020. Participants’ reliance on expert versus inexpert sources for information about COVID-19, their perceived severity of and susceptibility to COVID-19, their response efficacy and self-efficacy, and their engagement in protective actions (staying at home, wearing a facemask, and washing hands) were measured. Demographic variables (sex, age, income, education, and city of residence), knowledge of COVID-19, and self-rated health condition were controlled. RESULTS Reliance on expert sources did not become the major factor that motivated these actions until wave 3, and the negative effect of inexpert sources on these actions was limited to wave 2. Perceived severity encouraged some protective behaviors but its effect varied depending on the specific behavior. In addition, perceived severity exhibited a stronger effect on these behaviors compared to perceived susceptibility. The positive effect of response efficacy was only significant at waves 1 and 2 and limited to certain behaviors. CONCLUSIONS Chinese individuals’ engagement in protective behaviors might not entirely be their autonomous decision but a result of compliance with executive orders. After the early outbreak, expert sources started to facilitate protective behaviors, suggesting that it might take time to develop trust in these sources. The facilitating effect of perceived severity lasted throughout the duration of the pandemic, but that of response efficacy was limited to the early stage. CLINICALTRIAL

Voices in health communication — experts and expert-roles in the German news coverage of multi resistant pathogens

When it comes to complex topics in the field of health and risk communication, experts are of high importance for the credibility of a news media report. This paper examines the use of experts and their roles in the news media coverage of multi-resistant pathogens by means of a quantitative content analysis of German print and online news. A cluster analysis of the expert statements identifies three different statement frames describing different expert roles. The results show manifest patterns of selected expert sources, which points to professionalized mechanisms of selecting expert sources for news media reports.

Adaptation Strategies of the U.S. Companies to the Digitalization of Production

The article considers one of the little-studied scientific problems — the problem of adaptation to digitalization in the sphere of production. This problem is investigated by the authors on the example of American companies. The researchers set themselves the task of analyzing various aspects of this problem — to identify the features and stages of adaptation of American companies in the implementation of digitalization in the field of production. The analysis of various scientific, analytical and expert sources allowed the authors to formulate not only the peculiarities of the processes of adaptation of American companies to digitalization in the field of production but also to identify the logic of the transition to the main levels of this adaptation from the lowest to the highest. The novelty and complexity of the problem of adaptation of the company in the process of informatization, according to the authors, significantly increases the role and responsibility of company managers, their ability to accept and actively contribute to new management practices. The study conducted by the authors showed that in the process of developing a strategy for the adaptation of American companies to digitalization in the field of production, various aspects should be taken into account, new technologies and management practices should be developed. The analysis of the problem allowed the authors to make significant progress in understanding the complexity of the adaptation processes of companies that start the process of digitalization.

PRÓBA OCENY EFEKTYWNOŚCI POLITYKI ZAGRANICZNEJ I BEZPIECZEŃSTWA UNII EUROPEJSKIEJ

This paper aims to demonstrate the ineptitude of the European Union in implementing action to ensure security of the member states and, in consequence, pursuing effective foreign policy towards states which are indirectly involved in the relationships within the European region. The author argues the proposition through confrontation and interpretation of knowledge conveyed in expert sources.