Online Health-Information Seeking Among Older Populations: Family Influences and the Role of the Medical Professional.

There are myriad technological devices, computer programs, and online information sources available for people to manage their health and the health of others. However, people must be technologically and health literate and capable of accessing, analyzing, and sharing the information they encounter. The authors interviewed middle-aged and older adults about their online health information seeking behavior and discovered that technology and health literacy are influenced by a collective ability to manage the health and technological needs of a family. We used information management theory to frame participants' experiences of their self-efficacy using technology to manage the health of loved ones. Findings suggest that health can be co-managed if at least one person in a family unit is technologically "savvy" and able to effectively share health information. However, individuals' confidence in their own literacy often depends on others, usually family members who tend to "do" instead of "teach."

Cancer Triptych.

The author uses personal narrative to show how the cold cloak of cancer covered her family during the polar vortex of 2013-2014. The use of a triptych form hinges together related themes of containment, coping, communicative responses, and social support after a cancer diagnosis. This narrative demonstrates the multiple responses and communicative coping strategies to a cancer diagnosis.

Sociocultural factors and breast cancer in sub-Saharan Africa: implications for diagnosis and management.

The incidence of breast cancer is on the rise in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and efforts at early diagnosis have not been very successful because the public has scant knowledge about the disease, a large percentage of breast cancer cases are diagnosed late and mainly rural SSA women's practice of breast self-examination is poor. In this paper, we argue that an examination of the social and cultural contexts of SSA that influence breast cancer diagnosis and management in the region is needed. We discuss the implications of sociocultural factors, such as gender roles and spirituality, on breast cancer diagnosis and management in SSA.

Examining the content and outcomes of young adults' satisfying and unsatisfying conversations about sex.

In this study, we examined young adults' conversational descriptions of satisfying and unsatisfying sexual conversations with a romantic partner and the relational and sexual outcomes. We coded participants' responses for content, when and where conversations occurred, and the results of conversations. Most often, conversations occurred in residences at the beginning of relationships and addressed sexual pleasure, relationship issues, sexual health, past sexual experience, attitudes/values, and sexual decision making. The results of conversations included relational consequences such as distrust, anger, understanding, and being afraid to talk to a partner, as well as sexual outcomes such as better sex, condom use, and better sex talk. The findings suggest that the costs and rewards of young adults' sexual disclosure have implications for the effectiveness of sexual communication.

Reconciling messages: the process of sexual talk for Latinas.

Young Latinas' experiences and meanings of sexuality were explored through 31 interviews, with grounded theory used to provide theoretical understanding of sexual talk. The women's level of comfort with sexual talk and their explicitness influenced the kind of sexual talk they engaged in with partners. The analysis of being in a romantic relationship revealed similar descriptions of processes within the accounts that led to the discovery of the core variable reconciling messages. This describes the Latinas' process of accepting messages that fit their value system, rejecting messages that theyfeel misrepresent their beliefs, and altering messages to accept their own sexuality. The findings expand Communication Boundary Management theory and have implications for interventions aimed at assisting women with safer sex topics.