<p> The purpose of this dissertation was twofold. The first purpose was to develop a valid and reliable measurement of health literacy appropriate for use in social science. The second purpose was to determine whether health literacy is a skill set that can be increased through the intervention efforts of communication studies scholars. These purposes were addressed across four studies. The results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis provided support for a 26-item revised Perceived Oral Health Literacy Scale (LaBelle &amp; Weber, 2013) which assesses individuals' <i>Motivation</i> and <i>Ability</i> to gain access to, understand, and use health information in order to promote and maintain good health. Conceptually, this measure is consistent with the definition of health literacy put forth by the World Health Organization (2014), thus offering evidence of its content validity. Empirically, the results across the four studies provide strong evidence for the validity of the revised POHLS. Evidence for construct validity was provided by the measures positive relationships to patient self-efficacy, response efficacy and perceived health competence, while also being negatively related to trait and dyadic communication anxiety. Further evidence of construct validity was suggested by known groups differences in the POHLS scores obtained between individuals who had completed a semester long course in Health Communication and those who had completed a course in an unrelated topic. Evidence for the criterion- related validity of the measure was not supported, as the revised POHLS was not related to individuals' physiological indicators of health or stage of readiness to change behaviors related to obesity and diabetes prevention. The results of a pretest-posttest nonequivalent groups design did not provide support for the effectiveness of a brief educational intervention to increase individuals' health literacy; however, the known-groups assessment offers support to conduct further research on this topic. Taken together, these results provide support for the revised POHLS as a reliable and valid measure of health literacy appropriate for use in social science research.</p>

<p>As service members return home from active duty, the number of veterans seeking attention for PTSD will likely increase. The manner in which society offers or denies support to veterans with PTSD is of utmost importance as they reintegrate into everyday civilian life. The collective support of family, friends, medical personnel, community members and organizations, broadly termed social support, is integral to the reintegration of veterans with PTSD. Among various aspects of social support, in this project, I examined the influence of Positive Social Support and Unsupportive Social Interactions and their relationship to PTSD and to seeking social support seeking behaviors in offline and online contexts. The findings from this study suggest that positive social support is associated with lower PTSD, whereas unsupportive negative interactions are associated with higher PTSD. Further, higher levels of seeking online and offline social support were associated with higher levels of PTSD. Moreover, those had online and offline behaviors were negatively correlated with social support, in essence suggesting the possibility that social support seeking behaviors are intended to make up for gaps in social support among veterans with elevated levels of PTSD. In summary, I argue that communication scholars and other social scientists should examine the role of social support on PTSD in veterans and with the increasing penetration of the Internet and new communication technologies, the comparative study of online social support compares to traditional face-to-face or peer-group support can be a rich area of study.

No description available.

<p> There are so many different communication styles utilized by pharmaceutical sales representatives. This thesis handles the quandary of whether those communication styles are not only effective among the interactions with medical providers, but whether those effective means of communicating are embedded with ethical communication as well. The theory of <i>symbolic interactionism</i> and the philosophical basis of <i>persuasive speech</i> expound on the methodology pharmaceutical sales representatives implement with the people he or she encounters. Medical providers also need to perceive that their encounters with pharmaceutical sales representatives are congruently effective and ethical interactions, which is revealed by qualitative research methods in the thesis. Lastly, the pharmaceutical sales representative's effective and ethical communication provides recommendations in how to maintain the proper perspective of keeping these medical interactions with the greatest credibility and reputation. Keywords: Pharmaceutical sales representative (PSR), symbolic interactionism, persuasive speech, nonverbal communication, ethical communication, creating reality</p>

This thesis investigated the nature of gesture and its relation to speech in deaf and hearing French-speaking children between the ages of four and six. Although the spoken language of the two groups was not different, significant differences were found in the amount and kinds of gestures produced. The deaf children produced significantly more gestures, and a higher proportion of iconics, than the hearing controls. The deaf children were systematic in their use of speech in conjunction with gesture in that they combined iconic gestures with verb phrases and points with noun phrases. This systematicity was not displayed by the hearing children. The deaf children were also found to gesture more frequently during partially intelligible than during intelligible utterances. The implications of this data for the speech-gesture relation are discussed.

<p> In today's highly mediated society it is very likely that communication technologies will be utilized for group interactions. Questions regarding how groups interact and how modalities of interaction factor into effectiveness, affinity, productivity and satisfaction abound. Scholarship in this area is broadly approached from technologically deterministic perspectives and social constructionist perspectives. The reality is that neither perspective is completely accurate and any argument that relies solely on technology or group dynamic as the determining variable will have failings. This thesis explores the middle ground, acknowledging that both communication mode and group construction are factors when assessing communication quality. In order to understand the interplay between group dynamics and mediated interaction, study participants were selected from undergraduate communication courses where group assignments are a regular part of the curriculum. The study participants were allowed to work on the assigned tasks in an unstructured setting. After completion of the tasks the students were surveyed to discover how the groups organized and interacted, with a focus on determining types of interaction, satisfaction and perceived efficiency. Participant groups chose face-to-face as their preferred form of interaction (58.33%) with email the second most frequently used (34.95%). Part of the study addresses the question of conscious selection of interaction method and the correlation with outcome satisfaction, interaction satisfaction and perceived interaction effectiveness. Groups that made active decisions on how to interact showed a significant correlation with both outcome and interaction satisfaction, while groups that interacted based simply on the preferences of the group only reported having interactive satisfaction. The results of this study lend support to both the basic tenants of media richness theory and technology deterministic theories. The primary conclusion of this thesis is that interaction based on conscious decisions by the group result in a higher level of interaction and outcome satisfaction. </p>

Thesis (MScIng)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Bibliography.

Thesis (M.S.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-48).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-85).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2006. / Title from title screen (viewed May 1, 2007). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.