This case study investigates the co-construction communication patterns that emerged during an Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) intervention designed to reduce negative and critical self-talk. The transcripts of eight sequential acupressure and behavioral (SAB) counseling intervention sessions between a therapist and two medically nonadherent HIV-infected women were analyzed using Giorgi's (1989, 1994, 1997, 2006) phenomeonlogical method of inquiry. The analysis revealed three major themes: "assessing the present," "reviewing the past," and "forging the future," and eight subthemes: "safe atmosphere," "disclosure," "negotiating meaning," "releasing the past," "breaking the past-to-present pattern," "reducing uncertainty," "generating options," and "projecting images." Prior to the intervention sessions, the women reported experiencing negative and critical self-talk and inconsistent medication adherence. Self-talk and illness narrative modifications were evident within and across sessions as the therapist used sequential acupressure and behavioral counseling techniques. During the one month follow-up, the participants reported no experience of negative and critical self-talk and described actions taken toward goals discussed and imagined during the intervention such as medication adherence, exercise, and reenrollment in school. The co-construction themes that emerged in the intervention were consistent with findings in the comforting message literature with specific parallels to the factor analysis findings of Bippus (2001). This work lends support to comforting message research and suggests that distinctions between everyday comforting messages and chronic illness support strategies may be more similar than anticipated. Other study conclusions include clinical and practical implications for people working with HIV-infected individuals.

Texting is ubiquitous; the International Association for the Wireless Telecommunications Industry reported that 4.1 billion text messages were sent per day in the first half of 2009. In isolation, texting does not injure individuals; however, when combined with driving, lives have changed for the worse. The National Safety Council estimates that 1.6 million crashes per year can be attributed to distracted drivers either talking on cell phones or texting while driving and nearly 28 percent of all crashes in the United States can be ascribed to these behaviors. An increasing number of texting while driving fear appeal campaigns are being utilized in the media. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to create and test theoretically-based messages aimed at discouraging texting while driving. Formative research along with the Extended Parallel Process Model was used for guidance in the creation of the fear appeal messages. No low threat message was used for the main study after repeated message validations failed. For the study, three high threat messages varied only by a single paragraph which targeted beliefs about benefits, mastery, and ubiquity of texting while driving. 155 undergraduates at Texas A & M University completed a pretest, read the high threat message, and answered a posttest. Need for cognition and sensation seeking tendencies were measured in order to understand the effects such personality traits have on message perceptions. Five major outcomes were revealed even though numerous hypotheses were unsupported. There was a significant interaction between perceived threat and sensation seeking tendencies on message realism. There was a significant interaction between perceived threat and need for cognition on message realism. There was a significant interaction between perceived threat and need for cognition on message accuracy. There was a significant interaction between perceived threat and need for cognition on attitudes. There was a significant positive correlation between perceived threat and perceived message sensation value. This project provides support that sensation seeking tendencies and need for cognition do interacted with perceived threat on perceptions of message effectiveness and that perceived message sensation value was positively related to perceived threat. Results also revealed the prevalence of texting while driving behavior and relationships between personality traits and texting while driving. Sensation seeking tendencies were positively correlated with initiating text messages while driving. Need for cognition was negatively correlated with reading and replying to text messages while driving.

Men engage in fewer health-promoting behaviours than women. Despite being more active than women, the majority of men are inactive. Physical activity (PA) decreases the risk of developing numerous chronic conditions and may be an optimal behaviour to target in men’s health interventions. However, informational resources and health-promotion interventions for men are lacking. To address this gap, we conducted two studies using the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM; Witte, 1992) as a guiding framework. Study 1 examined relevant and appealing health message content for men and explored the relevance and applicability of EPPM constructs to men’s health messages and PA messages in particular. Four semi-structured focus groups and four semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted. Participants (n=26) easily related to the EPPM constructs. Participants preferred demographically-tailored health messages that addressed modifiable behaviours (e.g. PA) and self-regulatory strategies (e.g. planning) and included reputable sources, strong language, and sex appeal. From these findings, four sets of PA messages with different combinations of risk and efficacy information were developed. Study 2 tested the effectiveness of these EPPM-based messages to increase men’s PA intentions and behaviours. Inactive participants (n=353) were randomly assigned to one of four message groups and read four health messages over four consecutive days. Intentions were assessed at baseline and the first follow-up (Day 5) while manipulation check items were assessed at Day 5. PA behaviour was assessed at baseline and the second follow-up (Day 14). Men who received low efficacy and risk information were less likely to meet the Canadian PA guidelines at Day 14 than men who only received low efficacy information (OR=2.15 95% CI:0.963-4.80, Wald=3.49, p=0.062). Providing risk information led to increases in PA behaviours (F(1, 157)=7.29, p=0.008, d=.22). Intentions to be active were greater in the high efficacy group than the low efficacy group (F(1, 345)=4.10, p=0.044, d=.21). Bivariate correlations indicated a disconnect between fear and efficacy perceptions, intentions, and defensive avoidance. From these collective findings, we provide insight into the EPPM as it relates to men’s PA behaviours, propose preliminary recommendations regarding the development of PA messages for men, and suggest areas for future research. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2011-08-30 17:32:12.392

abstract: Decades of research in cyberpsychology and human-computer interaction has pointed to a strong distinction between the online and offline worlds, suggesting that attitudes and behaviors in one domain do not necessarily generalize to the other. However, as humans spend increasing amounts of time in the digital world, psychological understandings of safety may begin to influence human perceptions of threat while online. This dissertation therefore examines whether perceived threat generalizes between domains across archival, correlational, and experimental research methods. Four studies offer insight into the relationship between objective indicators of physical and online safety on the levels of nation and state; the relationship between perceptions of these forms of safety on the individual level; and whether experimental manipulations of one form of threat influence perceptions of threat in the opposite domain. In addition, this work explores the impact of threat perception-related personal and situational factors, as well as the impact of threat type (i.e., self-protection, resource), on this hypothesized relationship. Collectively, these studies evince a positive relationship between physical and online safety in macro-level actuality and individual-level perception. Among individuals, objective indicators of community safety—as measured by zip code crime data—were a positive reflection of perceptions of physical safety; these perceptions, in turn, mapped onto perceived online safety. The generalization between perceived physical threat and online threat was stronger after being exposed to self-protection threat manipulations, possibly underscoring the more dire nature of threats to bodily safety than those to valuable resources. Most notably, experimental findings suggest that it is not the physical that informs the digital, but rather the opposite: Online threats blur more readily into physical domains, possibly speaking to the concern that dangers specific to the digital world will bleed into the physical one. This generalization of threat may function as a strategy to prepare oneself for future dangers wherever they might appear; and indeed, perceived threat in either world positively influenced desires to act on recommended safety practices. Taken together, this research suggests that in the realm of threat perception, the boundaries between physical and digital are less rigid than may have been previously believed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Psychology 2017