Trust in Whom? Dioxin, Organizations, Risk Perception, and Fish Consumption in Michigan's Saginaw Bay Watershed.

Trust is generally recognized as important for risk-relevant behavior but research suggests that trust in different organizations may have varying effects. This research advances the literature by testing two hypotheses which postulate that this variability can be explained by risk perception. We collected data from 351 anglers regarding their trust in nine organizations whose efforts are relevant to dioxin contamination in Michigan's Saginaw Bay Watershed, risk perceptions, and self-reports of risky behavior (i.e., consumption of local fish identified as especially likely to contain contaminants). As hypothesized (H1), the negative effect of trust in two agencies-the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) and a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services-sponsored River Walker Program (RWP)-on risky behavior was significantly mediated by risk perception but these effects differed from each other such that trust in the MDNR was associated with increased perceptions of risk while trust in the RWP was associated with decreased perceptions of benefit. Also as hypothesized (H2), the positive effect of trust in Dow Chemical Company on risky behavior was significantly mediated by risk perception such that increased trust in Dow was associated with reduced risk perception. The current results lend credence to arguments regarding the importance of specificity in the target of trust and advance this literature by suggesting that differential effects on risk perception help explain this variability. Thus, organizations whose efforts focus on risk communication appear ideally situated to reduce risky behavior through a negative impact on risk perception. Other organizations, however, may run the risk of increasing risky behavior if their efforts result in reduced perceptions of risk.

Anglers' attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors as impacted by the Michigan Fish Consumption Advisory.

This study examines the relationship between a person's knowledge that a current ego-involving behavior may include health risks and the undertaking of a subsequent behavior change to reduce this risk. Specifically, 396 licensed anglers were surveyed concerning their beliefs about the health risks of consuming sport-caught fish, their knowledge of the risk information contained in the Michigan Fish Consumption Advisory, and their personal fish consumption behavior. Sixty-five percent of the anglers surveyed reported reading part or all of the Michigan Fish Consumption Advisory; however, as a group, they perceived the risks from eating sport-caught fish as small.

Local reinvention of the CDC HIV prevention community planning initiative.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in coordination with 65 states, cities, and territories, implemented HIV prevention community planning beginning in 1994. This large scale innovation in public health planning has involved tens of thousands of professionals and community residents. Though a single case study, Michigan provides a strong test of the implementation of this national prevention planning model because of the state's decentralized approach to HIV prevention community planning involving several hundred residents. A decentralized approach to community planning promises to maximize participation and the sharing of leadership as well as obstacles to community planning. Here, the CDC Guidance for community planning is contrasted with empirical observation of implementation in Michigan. We conclude that the high expectations for a decentralized approach to HIV prevention community planning can be best achieved when a distinction is drawn between information-seeking tasks and decision-making tasks. We recommend that information-seeking tasks be centrally coordinated, and that decision-making tasks be decentralized, to most fully achieve the potential of HIV prevention community planning.

Social marketing and diffusion-based strategies for communicating with unique populations: HIV prevention in San Francisco.

We conducted a 2-year investigation of the extent to which strategies based on social marketing and diffusion of innovations concepts are used in preventive health communication with unique (highly ostracized) populations. Of the 49 organizations in San Francisco that operate HIV prevention programs (N = 100), programs that most highly targeted unique populations were surveyed. Personal interviews were then conducted with 38 staff leaders who operated the most and least effective programs. Audiotapes and transcripts were content analyzed to identify the strategies used by program staff. Strategies based on social marketing concepts were more prevalent than strategies based on the diffusion of innovations: More effective programs were characterized by emphasis on homophily, audience segmentation, compatibility-based strategies, and interorganizational collaboration.

Setting the polling agenda for the issue of AIDS.

Most scholarly attention to survey results focuses on the answers to the questions asked. When attention is directed to the questions, it usually concerns methodological issues of bias, format, and wording. Scholarly attention has completely ignored the issue of why surveys include questions on some issues and not on others. The present research investigates the polling agenda for the issue of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) from 1981 to 1987. Evidence from several over-time analyses supports the hypotheses that (1) the mass media agenda set the polling agenda for the issue of AIDS, and (2) the way in which the AIDS issue was portrayed in the mass media influenced the way in which survey questions addressed the issue of AIDS. The specific over-time relationship is discussed.