Black maternal mortality in the media: How journalists cover a deadly racial disparity

Through semi-structured interviews with four women news journalists, this study explores how journalists who specialize in women’s issues and health cover Black maternal mortality. Discussions include the role of advocacy in journalism and the struggle of covering the complex, long-standing systemic issue of maternal mortality associated with race in American society. Six themes consider the inclusion of race in healthcare coverage, a need for in-depth, nuanced coverage, the role of advocacy in journalism, complications of reporting on race, the importance of citing sources of color, and celebrity influence. Findings show the need for media advocacy in public health crises, and how journalistic norms can pressure journalists into citing inappropriate sources or diluting the story.

Right-Wing Psychedelia: Case Studies in Cultural Plasticity and Political Pluripotency

Recent media advocacy for the nascent psychedelic medicine industry has emphasized the potential for psychedelics to improve society, pointing to research studies that have linked psychedelics to increased environmental concern and liberal politics. However, research supporting the hypothesis that psychedelics induce a shift in political beliefs must address the many historical and contemporary cases of psychedelic users who remained authoritarian in their views after taking psychedelics or became radicalized after extensive experience with them. We propose that the common anecdotal accounts of psychedelics precipitating radical shifts in political or religious beliefs result from the contextual factors of set and setting, and have no particular directional basis on the axes of conservatism-liberalism or authoritarianism-egalitarianism. Instead, we argue that any experience which challenges a person's fundamental worldview—including a psychedelic experience—can precipitate shifts in any direction of political belief. We suggest that the historical record supports the concept of psychedelics as “politically pluripotent,” non-specific amplifiers of the political set and setting. Contrary to recent assertions, we show that conservative, hierarchy-based ideologies are able to assimilate psychedelic experiences of interconnection, as expressed by thought leaders like Jordan Peterson, corporadelic actors, and members of several neo-Nazi organizations.

Family engagement amidst COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study from Pakistan

Background: Family engagement in the early years of a child’s life is one of the most powerful predictors of a child’s development. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, family engagement has been affected in numerous ways. Thus, this study aims to identify the perception of parents on the change in dynamics of family engagement between parents and their children during the pandemic in Pakistan.Methods: A cross-sectional study design was followed using an online survey. The survey was administered to parents to assess their perception related to the effect of COVID-19 on family engagement as a whole.Results: The 90 parents participated in this online survey majority of whom had children aged 9 years and above (n=30). Most of the parents talked to their children daily, had one mealtime together, watched Television, and spent time with each other daily. There were some statements over which the parents marked ‘frequently’ and ‘hardly ever’ such as doing exercise, reading to the child, and supervising screen time. Results of the study show that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected interactions between parents and their children.Conclusions: Family is the basic unit of society. It plays a significant role in establishing life-long positive relationships. Family is a child’s first exposure to a nurturing environment and impactful engagements which helps in growth and mental development. COVID-19 has posed an overwhelming burden and affected the social interactions of parents with children. Social media advocacy and schools have supported in providing resources for continued learning with the participation of other members of the family.

When “Tried and True” Advocacy Strategies Backfire

A core principle of policy advocacy is that to engage decision makers in the urgency, complexity, and controversy of problems, advocates must effectively tell the story of those issues. Policy stories, or narratives, paint mental pictures of what a problem is, who is affected, and how it came to be. Yet, the persuasive effects of narratives on one key group, state legislators, remain understudied. Drawing from the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF), media advocacy, and public interest communications, we sought to inform advocacy strategy by illuminating state legislators’ responses to messages about public investments in quality childcare for all. Contrary to expectations, we found that narratives can have unintended effects challenging or even diminishing legislator support. We discuss implications for advocacy strategy.

Social marketing applications in public policy programs: key learnings and applications

Purpose Marketing tools used in public policy may not be purely commercial but based on non-commercial marketing exchanges also. This paper aims to make a case for the practice of social marketing principles to aid the context of public policy. Design/methodology/approach The approach is to draw out the key implementable learnings (KILs) from the analysis of the five public policy initiatives in the USA, India and Sri Lanka. A case situation with the context of child labour policy in India is proposed to use these KILs. Findings This paper concludes that the implementation of any policy is a challenging exercise and dependent on a large number of factors. However, KILs derived from successful social marketing programs deal with umbrella campaigns, prevailing socio-cultural environment, bottom-up communication, upstream approach to engage with stakeholders and targeted media advocacy could prove useful when the objective is to induce behaviour change as a part of the policy execution. Originality/value This paper evaluates the learnings from social marketing campaigns and their relevance to public policy programs. It also considers a case to demonstrate the application of the concept.

Stamping out disease: health education and promotion by miniature messengers

<p><b>Abstract </b></p><p>This study explores the role of the ubiquitous postage stamp as a messenger of health promotion and education. It examines the way that postal material has been modified to act as a medium for health education, with images and texts appropriate to the specific health problems. The methodology used included a search for all postage stamps listed in established catalogues that fitted the described criterion. Selection for further study was drawn from those stamps that covered the topics of infection, immunisation, tobacco cessation, growth and nutrition. </p><p>It was clearly recognised that by simply presenting information on a stamp, would not necessarily bring about the desired behavioural change. Thus, the currently accepted health promotion models were examined to find an appropriate explanation for/ and a rationale to explain the use of postage stamp in health promotion and education. The strategy called “media advocacy” was the nearest best fit for the bulk of postage stamps carrying health information. This finding could explain why stamps have been perceived, over many years, as being a useful and successful element in health promotion and education by their frequent and continued use over a period of some fifty years. </p><p>Postage stamps are frequently used worldwide and have a clear role in carrying health information and thus play a small, but important and unique, role in the field of health promotion. </p>

Stamping out disease: health education and promotion by miniature messengers

<p><b>Abstract </b></p><p>This study explores the role of the ubiquitous postage stamp as a messenger of health promotion and education. It examines the way that postal material has been modified to act as a medium for health education, with images and texts appropriate to the specific health problems. The methodology used included a search for all postage stamps listed in established catalogues that fitted the described criterion. Selection for further study was drawn from those stamps that covered the topics of infection, immunisation, tobacco cessation, growth and nutrition. </p><p>It was clearly recognised that by simply presenting information on a stamp, would not necessarily bring about the desired behavioural change. Thus, the currently accepted health promotion models were examined to find an appropriate explanation for/ and a rationale to explain the use of postage stamp in health promotion and education. The strategy called “media advocacy” was the nearest best fit for the bulk of postage stamps carrying health information. This finding could explain why stamps have been perceived, over many years, as being a useful and successful element in health promotion and education by their frequent and continued use over a period of some fifty years. </p><p>Postage stamps are frequently used worldwide and have a clear role in carrying health information and thus play a small, but important and unique, role in the field of health promotion. </p>

California Dentists’ Engagement in Media Advocacy for Sugar Restriction Policies

Objectives: Increasing dentists’ visibility in the media to make the case for sugary beverage taxes can help advance public policy that improves oral health outcomes. We assessed California dentists’ media engagement behaviors related to sugar restriction policies for dental caries prevention and correlates of engaging in such behavior. Methods: Survey items related to sugar policies and media engagement were embedded in an electronically distributed statewide survey of dentists’ tobacco cessation counseling behaviors. Descriptive statistics were calculated for respondent characteristics, perceived professional responsibility to discuss selected topics with patients, and attitudes and behaviors related to sugar restriction policy and media communication. Multivariable models identified independent correlates of media engagement. Results: Of 624 respondents, most had never talked to traditional media (78%) or posted to social media (64%) about sugar or sugar policies for dental caries prevention. Respondents with the highest level of media engagement were more likely to agree that sugary beverage taxes are effective at reducing dental caries, that they had support from dental professional organizations to talk to the media, that it is realistic for patients to reduce their sugar consumption, and that sugar and sugary drinks are extremely harmful to health. Conclusions: Efforts to increase dentists’ media engagement related to sugar restriction policies for dental caries prevention should address dentists’ negative attitudes toward the effectiveness of sugar restriction policies and may require increased support from dental professional societies. Knowledge Transfer Statement: Study findings identify dentists’ low engagement in media advocacy to support sugar restriction policy adoption. The results identify correlates of media engagement and of dentists’ willingness and confidence to act, which could serve to inform interventions to support and enhance engagement.

Death traps: Holes in urban India

This article is an ethnographic study of potholes in roads in urban India. The article describes different forms of attention to potholes, including cases of media advocacy, clinical reflections on injury and attempts by an accident survivor to document danger on the roads. Throughout, it argues for attention to the embodiment of infrastructure, and particularly, how people move through infrastructures. The article stems from a broader research project about traumatic injury from traffic accidents, many due to potholes. Taking these cases as sentinels of urban wound culture, the article asks: What if urban theory took wounding as a characteristic feature of everyday urbanism? What might this mean for studies of infrastructure’s affordances, risks and embodiment?

Media Coverage and Framing of Oakland’s Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax, 2016-2019

Purpose: To describe media coverage and framing of Oakland, California’s, sugar-sweetened beverage tax. Design: Media content analysis. Sample: Media documents (n = 90), published January 1, 2016-August 31, 2019, were retrieved from Oakland news outlets and ProQuest, NexusUni, EBSCO, and Google. Analysis: Documents were coded using constant comparative analysis in Atlas.ti v8; with descriptive analyses conducted using Stata/SE v. 15.1. Results: Documents were published evenly between pre- and post-ballot periods (n = 45); the majority (n = 47) provided neutral framing. Protax documents (n = 33) highlighted SSB consumption and health associations and countered antitax messaging; antitax documents (n = 10) focused on misinformation and sowing public confusion. Conclusion: Neutral media educates and raises awareness. Published prior to a vote, the media may help influence public opinion regarding SSB taxes. SSB tax media advocacy campaigns, giving particular attention to timing and perspective-based framing, may help to secure adoption and support implementation.