April 4-6, 2024 • Hyatt Regency • Lexington, KY
Innovations in Health Communication
Innovations in Health Communication
Abstract: Health Communication as a Moderator of the Association Between Intersectional Discrimination and HIV Prevention
As a response to the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s call for research to advance the science of intersectionality in health research (Alvidrez et al., 2021), this study explores the mechanisms by which intersectional experiences impact social determinants of health. Moreover, this study integrates health communication scholarship with social determinants of health to investigate the possibility that health communication, such as mass media and interpersonal communication, informs interventions to reduce health inequalities.
Intersectionality scholarship demonstrates that people’s everyday experiences are conditioned according to their intersecting positions within multiple, overlapping social hierarchies simultaneously (Collins, 2019; Crenshaw, 1991). Applying an intersectional approach, this study shifts away from focusing on one’s identities or social positions as single axes within social categories (e.g., income, race) as determinants of health disparities, instead focusing on intersectional experience of power inequalities within social space.
Health research with intersectional approach have examined experiences of intersectional day-to-day discrimination in health inequalities (Bauer, 2014; Bowleg, 2012). Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of Field (Bourdieu, 1983; Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992), we distinguish people’s experience of intersectional discrimination in the healthcare field from intersectional experiences in day-to-day life. It is because healthcare is a large and complex field in which individuals, groups, and institutions with differing interests communicate and act in power relations and compete for resources (Collyer, 2018; Kurunmäki, 1999). According to the Structural Influence Model of Communication (Kontos et al., 2010), we examine how people’s experiences of intersectional discrimination in both day-to-day life and healthcare setting are affected by experiences of media and interpersonal communication for health communication.
This study examines these questions in the context of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a preventive method for HIV infection, among cisgender black and white women with some risk for HIV infection with willingness to seek PrEP information as a health outcome. We conducted online survey (N = 341) in Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, the epicenter of HIV infection in U.S.
The results indicate that health communication can modify the relationship between intersectional discrimination and intention for PrEP information seeking. The patterns of the relationships differ by the context in which intersectional experiences are considered, which demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between intersectional experiences by their context.
We found a positive relationship between experience of intersectional day-to-day discrimination and intention to seek PrEP information among people who were less attentive to health issues in media, while the experience did not affect intention among those who paid more attention to health media. Moreover, intersectional discrimination in the healthcare field was positively associated with willingness to seek PrEP information for people who frequently communicate about health with others, but the association was not significant when people were less likely to talk about health with others.
Each mode of health communication works differently, because they offer different resources and benefits. People can get informational, cultural capitals and normative pressure from health media, while they can gain confidence, motivation, collective efficacy, and support from interpersonal health communication. Thus, the results inform communication practice to reduce health inequality.
Intersectionality scholarship demonstrates that people’s everyday experiences are conditioned according to their intersecting positions within multiple, overlapping social hierarchies simultaneously (Collins, 2019; Crenshaw, 1991). Applying an intersectional approach, this study shifts away from focusing on one’s identities or social positions as single axes within social categories (e.g., income, race) as determinants of health disparities, instead focusing on intersectional experience of power inequalities within social space.
Health research with intersectional approach have examined experiences of intersectional day-to-day discrimination in health inequalities (Bauer, 2014; Bowleg, 2012). Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of Field (Bourdieu, 1983; Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992), we distinguish people’s experience of intersectional discrimination in the healthcare field from intersectional experiences in day-to-day life. It is because healthcare is a large and complex field in which individuals, groups, and institutions with differing interests communicate and act in power relations and compete for resources (Collyer, 2018; Kurunmäki, 1999). According to the Structural Influence Model of Communication (Kontos et al., 2010), we examine how people’s experiences of intersectional discrimination in both day-to-day life and healthcare setting are affected by experiences of media and interpersonal communication for health communication.
This study examines these questions in the context of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a preventive method for HIV infection, among cisgender black and white women with some risk for HIV infection with willingness to seek PrEP information as a health outcome. We conducted online survey (N = 341) in Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, the epicenter of HIV infection in U.S.
The results indicate that health communication can modify the relationship between intersectional discrimination and intention for PrEP information seeking. The patterns of the relationships differ by the context in which intersectional experiences are considered, which demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between intersectional experiences by their context.
We found a positive relationship between experience of intersectional day-to-day discrimination and intention to seek PrEP information among people who were less attentive to health issues in media, while the experience did not affect intention among those who paid more attention to health media. Moreover, intersectional discrimination in the healthcare field was positively associated with willingness to seek PrEP information for people who frequently communicate about health with others, but the association was not significant when people were less likely to talk about health with others.
Each mode of health communication works differently, because they offer different resources and benefits. People can get informational, cultural capitals and normative pressure from health media, while they can gain confidence, motivation, collective efficacy, and support from interpersonal health communication. Thus, the results inform communication practice to reduce health inequality.