Category: News

Yan Jin leads FDA sponsored research to gather evidence to guide future messaging.

In the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) and the University of Georgia (UGA) were collaborating with researchers at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) Office of Communications to develop and test messaging strategies that can help overcome misinformation that arises during public health emergencies.

Brooke Fisher Liu, professor in UMD’s Department of Communication, and Yan Jin, OIBR Distinguished Scholar and professor of public relations and Georgia Athletic Association Professor at UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, will develop and test message strategies concerning vital health information that can help keep people safe.

“Past research found a clear link between COVID-19 misinformation exposure and vaccine hesitancy,” said Liu, the project’s principal investigator. “Research also connects misinformation exposure to lower compliance with government health and safety guidance. In short, misinformation is just as great of a threat to public health as the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, but our knowledge is limited on how to combat misinformation.”

Through two large-scale experiments on how messages containing misinformation and various types of responses are interpreted by U.S. adults, the researchers will be among the first to explore how public health misinformation can be corrected through strategic risk communication and what methods work best in thwarting misinformation.

“This project exemplifies the importance and promising future for more collaborative risk and crisis communication research across universities and with the government to provide theory-driven, evidenced-based insights to protect public health and safety,” said Jin, the project’s co-principal investigator.

The FDA is investing nearly $225,000 to fund the three-year project, which began in October 2021. The research team will  recommend best practices for how public health agencies can combat health misinformation for the COVID-19 pandemic and future threats.

The team defines misinformation as a claim of fact that is false due to a lack of scientific evidence or conflicting scientific evidence. The researchers will conduct online experiments gathering information on how adults respond to medical and health misinformation. The research team will also provide a targeted deep-dive analysis of previous research to identify best communication practices that promote safety during public health crises.

Liu and Jin are two of the leading risk and crisis communication scholars in the world. Their collaborative work dates back to 2001, when they both studied in the graduate program at the Missouri School of Journalism. They are joined by Tori McDermott, graduate research assistant from the UMD, and Xuerong Lu, graduate research assistant from the UGA.

“It is a great opportunity for me, as a young scholar in crisis communication, to collaborate with Dr. Liu and Dr. Jin to significantly advance research and practice in misinformation management,” said Lu.

The research findings will provide an opportunity to address real-time challenges, and the lessons learned from them, to guide future leadership decisions in health communication. The mission behind this research is to equip authorities with communication to respond to misinformation in a way that protects public health and safety.

“As an emerging scholar, I am so grateful to work on a project of this magnitude not only to help mitigate the negative effects of infodemics, but also to learn from Dr. Liu and Dr. Jin how scholarship can inform and change practice and policy to better society,” said McDermott.

Author:  Dayne Young,  dayne@uga.edu
More information about this project: Yan Jin

Young adults who experienced trauma in childhood are more at risk for misusing prescription opioids, according to new research from the University of Georgia.

The study, which was recently published in the Journal of American College Health, supports arguments to expand opioid risk screeners to include adverse childhood experiences.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) describe a range of stressors, some more severe than others, that can lead to negative health outcomes as an adult. These can range from having divorced parents to experiencing domestic violence or food insecurity.

Previous studies have linked childhood trauma to chronic health conditions, chronic pain, mental health conditions and health risk behaviors, including illicit drug use. But it’s unclear whether ACEs might influence prescription drug misuse and, in particular, prescription opioid misuse.

“People tend to use painkillers in different ways. Some of us are more welcoming to using medications to manage pain. Others are not. There is not much in the literature on pain tolerance,” said study author Janani Thapa, OIBR Affiliate and associate professor in UGA’s College of Public Health.

Janani Thapa (Submitted photo)

Opioid misuse is growing among young adults ages 18 to 25, now outpacing abuse among other groups. So, could adverse childhood experiences play a role in how young adults manage pain and opioid use?

To explore this question, the researchers surveyed 1,402 college students from a large southeast university. The participants answered questions related to ACEs, health status and behaviors associated with prescription opioid abuse.

Nearly two-thirds of participants reported having at least one adverse childhood experience.

Compared to participants with no adverse childhood experiences, those who reported zero to three ACEs were almost two times more likely to be at risk for opioid misuse. Participants who reported four or more ACEs had almost three times greater risk.

78.8% of participants reported having at least one past or current health condition, which Thapa says is a key pathway connecting ACEs and opioid use because having some sort of health condition or injury is typically the first time a student would be exposed to an opioid.

The critical difference in the participants’ risk of opioid misuse was the number of ACEs they had experienced as a kid.

“The likelihood to misuse opioid for students who had four or more ACEs is 13% higher,” said Thapa. “So, if we are looking at two groups with similar health conditions, the group with four or more ACEs is more likely to be at risk for opioid misuse.”

This clear association between childhood trauma and risk of opioid misuse is why the authors argue that ACEs should be assessed as part of opioid abuse screeners to support ongoing prevention efforts.

“These experiences can greatly impact lifelong health, even more so for those who have experienced more adverse experiences as a child,” said author Kennicia Fortson, who conducted the study as a graduate student at the College of Public Health with Thapa.

“The possible impacts of things like racism, neighborhood violence, grief, involvement with the juvenile justice system, and other adverse experiences must also be understood,” she said.More work is needed, said Fortson, to understand this relationship among young adults, with diverse samples.

The study, “Adverse childhood experience, risk of opioid misuse and its pathway among students at a public university,” is available online.

Former graduate student Kennicia Fortson is the second lead author. Other co-authors include Justin Ingels and Kiran Thapa with the University of Georgia College of Public Health and Shanta Dube with Georgia State University.

Written by: Lauren Baggett
Contact: Jani Thapa

University of Georgia faculty members have been named Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professors, the university’s highest recognition for excellence in instruction.

“Meigs Professors are an elite group of faculty members at an institution that places a great value on outstanding instruction,” said S. Jack Hu, the university’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “I congratulate the recipients of this significant honor and thank them for their exemplary dedication to our students.”

Rebecca Matthew

Rebecca Matthew (Photo by Andrew Davis Tucker/UGA)

Matthew, OIBR Affiliate and associate professor in the School of Social Work, has a distinguished record of teaching excellence and an abiding commitment to mentoring students. Her pedagogy centers on community-based and experiential learning approaches, which allow students to apply key concepts in the study of social work in real-world settings.

Matthew co-led an experiential interdisciplinary educational collaboration with the Athens Well-Being Project. She supervised a team of 79 master’s-level social work students in the collection of primary, open-access, neighborhood-level data that has supported ongoing efforts to improve community health. She led 34 students in experiential learning activities that supported the Athens Community Partnership for Youth Development. She is also a co-convener and faculty advisor for the student-coordinated Athens Social Justice Symposium, which received the 2016 UGA NAACP Image Award for Advocacy and Social Justice.

Matthew has a courtesy appointment in the department of health promotion and behavior in the College of Public Health and is a faculty fellow in the Center for Social Justice, Human and Civil Rights. She also served as the coordinator of the LACSI-PORTAL Latino Research and Outreach Initiative in the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute.

She is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Career Development and Success Recognition Award and six-time School of Social Work MSW Teacher of the Year.

Sarah Shannon

Sarah Shannon (Photo by Dorothy Kozlowski/UGA)

OIBR Affiliate, Sarah Shannon, associate professor of sociology, provides her students with innovative active learning courses and engages students through a holistic mentoring model. Her commitment to mentoring has played a pivotal role in helping students discover their passions and talents.

Shannon’s teaching excellence is evident in her service-learning course, Inside-Out. This course brings UGA students together with people who are incarcerated at the local jail in a shared learning environment. Her students describe this as the most meaningful academic and social experiences of their college careers.

Shannon also currently serves as undergraduate coordinator in the department of sociology. She has trained and mentored 16 undergraduate students through the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities program. Along with this role, she is also an enthusiastic mentor to graduate students in the department. Shannon is especially devoted to securing funding for research assistants and developing them as academic researchers.

Shannon is the recipient of numerous university awards and honors, including the Russell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the Sandy Beaver Excellence in Teaching Award, the Service-Learning Teaching Excellence Award, the Service-Learning Fellowship, the Special Collections Library Fellowship and the Lilly Teaching Fellowship.

More information about the Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorships is at http://provost.uga.edu/resources/faculty-resources/professorships/josiah-meigs-distinguished-teaching-professorships/.

Original Story: https://bit.ly/3NOiMYr

A child uses a virtual reality headset. (Photo by Dorothy Kozlowski)

Working out isn’t known for being fun. But new active video and virtual reality games may help change that.

Exergaming, or active video gaming, may be the perfect introduction to helping people be more active, according to new research from the University of Georgia.

Just about anyone can find an exergame to match their interests. Dance Dance Revolution, EA Sports Active and Beat Saber are some of the more popular exergames. Active gaming options exist for most gaming consoles, like Xbox and Nintendo. And previous research has shown that exergaming can have physical benefits, particularly when it takes the place of traditional sedentary video gaming.

The study showed that exergamers felt high levels of satisfaction and a sense of autonomy over their exercise regimen.

Sami Yli-Piipari

“When an individual feels autonomous, they’re more likely to exercise or exergame on their own,” said OIBR Affiliate, Sami Yli-Piipari, co-author of the study and an associate professor in the Mary Frances Early College of Education. “They feel ownership over what they are doing, and they’re doing it for themselves, so it’s more likely they will keep up the activity.”

Traditional exercise, such as weightlifting or running, doesn’t appeal to some people. But they might be open to active video gaming because it doesn’t seem like exercise. It’s just fun.

That desire to play might help people dip their toes in physical activity without the pressures or boredom that sometimes come with heading to the gym, said Yongju Hwang, corresponding author of the study and doctoral student in kinesiology.

Exergaming can serve as introduction to increased physical activity

Published in the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, the study followed 55 people whose daily physical activity was below the recommended 150 minutes per week.

Participants were randomly assigned to either exergame or participate in traditional aerobics classes three times a week for six weeks. Exergamers could choose from a variety of games including Just Dance, Kinect Sports and Zumba Fitness World Party over the course of the study.

The study measured physical activity and exertion during the exercise sessions with accelerometers, heart rate monitors and a scale that measures how hard participants believed they were working out. The researchers also used a variety of scales to assess participants’ enjoyment of their workouts and their motivation for working out, among other things.

I see exergaming and technology-enhanced exercise as…the first step in the right direction, especially for people who are not involved in any kind of exercise.” —Sami Yli-Piipari, College of Education.

The individuals assigned to the traditional classes worked out harder than their counterparts in the exergaming group. The supportive group environment of these types of classes has been shown to encourage people to give their all and holds them accountable for showing up.

“That makes sense because you probably will push yourself harder if somebody is looking over your shoulder rather than playing a game alone,” Yli-Piipari said.

But the exergamers had a better time. And that, coupled with a sense of ownership over their exercise routine, makes it more likely that they’ll keep it up and possibly be more open to other physical activity in the future.

“I see exergaming and technology-enhanced exercise as a stepping stone,” Yli-Piipari said. “It’s the first step in the right direction, especially for people who are not involved in any kind of exercise.”

Use active video games to decrease sedentary time

But active video games and their positive health effects aren’t just for adults.

Exergames are also an easy way for parents to increase their children’s physical activity, the researchers said.

“When you are buying games for your children or for yourself, try to buy games that have some activity in them,” Yli-Piipari said. “If you try to force your children to be active, they may do it because you’re telling them to. But the likelihood they continue to be active when you turn your back is low.”

For kids and many adults, playing a video game doesn’t feel like exercise.

“We forget sometimes that it’s really hard for inactive people to take that first step,” Yli-Piipari said. “These games may be able to address that problem.”

The study was co-authored by YangYang Deng, a graduate student in kinesiology; Mika Manninen, a doctoral graduate and Fulbright Scholar from the Department of Kinesiology; Sophie Waller, a doctoral student in kinesiology; Ellen Evans, director of UGA’s Center for Physical Activity and Health; Michael Schmidt, associate professor of kinesiology; and Senlin Chen, of Louisiana State University.

Written by: Leigh Beeson
Contact: Sami Yli-Piipari