Research Reports on Health Communication from D. Levine and Colleagues Provide New Insights.

"The Internet, particularly online social networks, can be an effective and culturally relevant communications channel to engage hard-to-reach populations with HIV prevention interventions. This article describes the process of conducting formative research on a popular social networking site, MySpace, in an effort to involve youth of color in design of programmatic content and formats for an Internet intervention," scientists in Oakland, United States report (see also Health Communication).

"We discovered that asynchronous focus groups worked well to engage hard-to-reach populations. The synchronous groups allowed maximum participation and easy transcription for analysis. The authors found that using a social networking site to conduct formative research was useful to guide the development of a social networking intervention for youth of color," wrote D. Levine and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "Researchers need to be flexible in adapting their research methods and interventions to the context of online social networking sites to most effectively engage hard-to-reach populations."

Levine and colleagues published their study in the Journal of Health Communication (Formative Research on MySpace: Online Methods to Engage Hard-to-Reach Populations. Journal of Health Communication, 2011;16(4):448-454).

For additional information, contact D. Levine, ISIS Inc., 409 13th St., 14th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612, United States.

The publisher's contact information for the Journal of Health Communication is: Taylor & Francis Inc., 325 Chestnut St., Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA.

Keywords: City:Oakland, State:California, Country:United States, Region:North and Central America, Health Communication

This article was prepared by Health & Medicine Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2011, Health & Medicine Week via NewsRx.com.