corey h. basch

Health information-seeking behavior (HISB) of college students is of importance due to health information inconsistencies at a time when personal independence and concurrent personal health decision making may be increased. Currently, there is a dearth of research about the HISB of college students, especially from diverse backgrounds. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify and describe the sources college students use when engaging in HISB; and to explore associations between HISB and demographic factors.

 This cross-sectional study was conducted with undergraduate students at a diverse, public institution in New York City. The sample was drawn from an institutional social science research pool and asked to complete a survey on HISB. A total of 226 respondents completed the survey.

 The believed accuracy of the information found online was positively correlated with related behaviors and beliefs. The number of followers on Instagram proved to be an important mediator of HISB of college students. The number of followers a health information provider has was fittingly positively correlated with the belief that social media is a helpful resource for health information r(233)=0.18, P=0.01. Students from families with two or more generations living in the United States accessed health professionals more frequently than students from one or less generation (χ2=8.107(2), P=0.017).

 Targeted educational programs designed to increase health information seeking skills, including discernment of information quality should be a priority for college students.

Climate change is one of the most critical threats to our society. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to describe the content of the most viewed climate change videos on YouTube.

The term “climate change” was used to search on YouTube to garner a sample of the 100 most widely-viewed videos. Videos in a language other than English, or considered irrelevant, were excluded. Using a fact sheet from National Aeronautics and Space Administration, content categories were created and successively coded.

The mean number of views for the 100 videos evaluated was 231,140.2 views (SD= 718, 399.5) and the mean length was 12.1 minutes (SD= 24.1). Most videos were uploaded by a news source (77.0%), included a belief that climate change is happening (77.0%), and mentioned the impact of climate change on the environment (71.0%). Only one-third of the videos mentioned how to prevent climate change (33.0%). More than half focused on a specific environment and, of those, 47.2% specifically focused on cities. Compared to videos that did not focus on a specific environment, the videos with an environmental focus were more often intended for adults (87.3% vs. 53.3%, P ≤ 0.001).

This study highlights the need for climate change YouTube videos intended for youth. Targeting youth may lead to engagement of younger generations in climate change discourse and inspire climate action. Further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of YouTube as a platform for educational videos on climate change

The media plays as an important role in delivering information about emergent issues, such as the Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) outbreak of 2019. As such, there has been an increase in news coverage of vector-borne disease coverage due to a rise in emerging or re-emerging arboviruses.

The purpose of this study was to describe the content of news clips related to the recent (2019) EEEV outbreak in the United States.

Only 3 of the important topics identified were mentioned in a majority of the 110 videos analyzed. These topics were, mosquito mentioned as transmitter, prevention by repellent/pesticide, and geography. Thus, many aspects of EEEV were lacking in coverage.

A priority for public health professionals should be to engage in discourse with news media to assure that information disseminated via news channels is not vague or misleading.

Violence or violent imagery, defined as any image that conveys an imminent physical or existential threat to person(s), property, or society, with or without weaponry, is often featured in advertising. However, the effects of exposure (sporadic or chronic) to such imagery are not fully understood. The objective of this study was to describe the prevalence and types of violence portrayed in advertising on public buses in New York City (NYC).

In this cross-sectional study, from April to July 2019, researchers catalogued and coded the print advertising images present on the passenger entry side of all Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) bus lines in Manhattan to determine whether images of violence or violent acts were present. Unlike images of alcohol and tobacco products (banned from MTA property in 2017 and 1992, respectively), there are no similar restrictions on violence or violent imagery.

A total of 23 out of 136 (17%) observed advertisements included images of violence and/or actual or imminent violent acts. One hundred percent of images involving violence were embedded in advertisements for mass media/entertainment purposes often featuring wellknown and favorably regarded actors and entertainment personalities or companies.

People of all ages and backgrounds are passively exposed to bus advertisements in a variety of settings. This study contributes to the literature regarding the extent to which the public is passively exposed to violent advertising. Additional study is required to further understand the link between violent imagery and attitudes toward/tolerance of violence.