Smoking Cessation Barriers among Individuals with Mental Illnesses: A Qualitative Study of Patients' and Healthcare Providers' Perspectives.

In this paper we aimed to explore: (1) challenges that people with mental illnesses (MIs) describe in engaging in smoking cessation, (2) challenges that mental health providers (MHPs) perceive that people living with MIs face, and (3) how the perceived challenges are similar and/or different from both perspectives. Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain narrative data from 16 MHPs and 13 psychiatric inpatients with MIs. We identified themes purport societal, group, and individual factors may influence smoking cessation treatment engagement. The scope of the perceived challenges appeared varied in the narratives of MHPs as compared to those with MI.

News Stories of Intimate Partner Violence: An Experimental Examination of Media Framing and Perpetrator Sex in LGBTQ Versus Heterosexual Relationships.

This study experimentally examines the effects of perpetrator sex (male or female), relationship context (heterosexual or homosexual), and the type of media framing (episodic or thematic) on endorsement for public health perspectives about intimate partner violence (IPV) and punishment preferences for IPV perpetrators. Participants (N = 750) were randomly assigned to a condition, exposed to a composite news story, and then completed a survey. Manipulation check responses demonstrated a pattern suggesting that participants had difficulty attending to details of IPV in stories where the perpetrator was a woman, or where the violence occurred in a homosexual relationship. Results revealed significant interaction effects for the endorsement of public health perspectives and for perpetrator punishment preferences. Results for the endorsement of public health perspectives showed that thematic framing caused stronger support only when the perpetrator was a heterosexual man. Results for perpetrator punishment preferences revealed a pattern where participants preferred stronger punishments for heterosexual male perpetrators over any other group. Participants did not distinguish in their punishment preferences for male or female homosexual perpetrators, but these were still stronger than their punishment preferences for heterosexual female perpetrators. Theoretical implications are presented with attention to extending research about media portrayals of IPV, and discussion is offered concerning practical considerations for public health support services that address IPV.

Drama at Dunder Mifflin: Workplace Bullying Discourses on The Office.

This study examines the portrayal and affective framing of workplace bullying behaviors on the popular American television show The Office. Quantitative and qualitative content analyses were conducted on 54 episodes spanning the show's nine seasons. Results revealed 331 instances of workplace bullying, for an average of 6.13 bullying behaviors per episode. Workplace bullying behavior on The Office was grouped into five categories: sexual jokes, public humiliation, practical jokes, belittlement, and misuse of authority. In general, instances of workplace bully were scripted as humorous and lacking significant consequences, which could further contribute to social discourses that perpetuate the problem of bullying in real-life workplaces.

Individual and Team-Based Medical Error Disclosure: Dialectical Tensions Among Health Care Providers.

Researchers from disciplines of education, health communication, law and risk management, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy examined communication tensions among interprofessional (IP) health care providers regarding medical error disclosure utilizing patient simulation. Using relational dialectics theory, we examined how communication tensions manifested in both individual-provided medical error disclosure and IP team-based disclosure. Two dialectical tensions that health care providers experienced in disclosure conversations were identified: (a) leadership and support, and (b) transparency and protectionism. Whereas these tensions were identified in an IP education setting using simulation, findings support the need for future research in clinical practice, which may inform best practices for various disclosure models. Identifying dialectical tensions in disclosure conversations may enable health communication experts to effectively engage health care providers, risk management, and patient care teams in terms of support and education related to communicating about medical errors.

Coping and Sexual Harassment: How Victims Cope across Multiple Settings.

The ways sexual harassment occurs both online and in face-to-face settings has become more complicated. Sexual harassment that occurs in cyberspace or online sexual harassment adds complexity to the experiences of victims, current research understandings, and the legal dimensions of this phenomenon. Social networking sites (SNS) are a type of social media that offer unique opportunities to users and sometimes the communication that occurs on SNS can cross the line from flirtation into online sexual harassment. Victims of sexual harassment employ communicative strategies such as coping to make sense of their experiences of sexual harassment. The current study qualitatively examined problem-focused, active emotion-focused, and passive emotion-focused coping strategies employed by sexual harassment victims across multiple settings. We conducted 26 in-depth interviews with victims that had experienced sexual harassment across multiple settings (e.g., face-to-face and SNS). The findings present 16 types of coping strategies-five problem-focused, five active emotion-focused, and six passive emotion-focused. The victims used an average of three types of coping strategies during their experiences. Theoretical implications extend research on passive emotion-focused coping strategies by discussing powerlessness and how victims blame other victims. Furthermore, theoretically the findings reveal that coping is a complex, cyclical process and that victims shift among types of coping strategies over the course of their experience. Practical implications are offered for victims and for SNS sites.

A Mixed Method Study of Intimate Partner Violence: How Sex and Severity Impact Perpetrator Prior Involvement, Abnormality, and Responsibility.

This study employed a mixed method approach to examine the effects of participant sex, perpetrator sex, and severity of violence on perceptions of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators. Quantitative participants (n = 449) completed a survey and qualitative participants (n = 31) participated in a focus group or an interview. Participants believed that it was more likely male perpetrators had prior involvement in IPV. Participants rated stories of female perpetrators as more abnormal than stories of male perpetrators. Participants in the weak severity of violence condition had lower evaluations of responsibility than the strong or fatal severity of violence conditions and only women were discerning about perpetrator sex in their ratings of responsibility. Theoretical implications extend intimate terrorism and defensive attribution theory.

"Maybe She Was Provoked": Exploring Gender Stereotypes About Male and Female Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence.

The current study is concerned with the different types of gender stereotypes that participants may draw upon when exposed to news stories about intimate partner violence (IPV). We qualitatively analyzed open-ended responses examining four types of gender stereotypes-aggression, emotional, power and control, and acceptability of violence. We offer theoretical implications that extend past research on intimate terrorism and situational couple violence, the gender symmetry debate, and how stereotypes are formed. We also discuss practical implications for journalists who write stories about IPV and individuals who provide services to victims and perpetrators.

News Stories of Intimate Partner Violence: An Experimental Examination of Participant Sex, Perpetrator Sex, and Violence Severity on Seriousness, Sympathy, and Punishment Preferences.

This study experimentally examines the effects of participant sex, perpetrator sex, and severity of violence on perceptions of intimate partner violence (IPV) seriousness, sympathy toward the victim, and punishment preferences for the perpetrator. Participants (N = 449) were randomly assigned to a condition, exposed to a composite news story, and then completed a survey. Ratings of seriousness of IPV for stories with male perpetrators were significantly higher than ratings of seriousness for stories with female perpetrators. Men had significantly higher sympathy for female victims in any condition than for male victims in the weak or strong severity of violence conditions. Men's sympathy for male victims in the fatal severity of violence condition did not differ from their sympathy for female victims. Women had the least sympathy for female victims in the weak severity condition and men in the weak or strong severity conditions. Women reported significantly higher sympathy for female victims in the strong and fatal severity of violence conditions. Women's ratings of sympathy for male victims in the fatal severity of violence condition were statistically indistinguishable from any other group. Participants reported stronger punishment preferences for male perpetrators and this effect was magnified among men. Theoretical implications are presented with attention provided to practical considerations about support for public health services.

Media Portrayals of Female Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence.

Preventing intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health priority. An important component of designing prevention programs is developing an understanding of how media portrayals of health issues influence public opinion and policy. To better understand the ways in which media images may be informing our understanding of IPV, this study content analyzed portrayals of IPV in news media articles. Stratified media outlets were used to obtain a representative sample of daily newspapers based on their designated market areas. Researchers created constructed months using weeks from each season across a 2-year period. The first part of the study investigated quantitative differences in the coverage of female and male perpetrators (n = 395) and identified several areas where coverage differed. The second part of the study qualitatively examined coverage of female perpetrators (n = 61) to provide a richer description of such coverage. This study contributes to our understanding of female perpetrators and how these portrayals may contribute to the larger gender symmetry debate surrounding female aggressors. Implications for public health policy and research are discussed.