What a fantastic time we had at the APHA Conference in Minneapolis! Our week was filled with opportunities to connect, collaborate, and learn as we joined public health professionals from across the nation to explore pressing public health topics. Our team was excited to bring insights from our latest research, and it was even more inspiring to...

Since 2022, the COMM HSP team based at the University of Minnesota has been collaborating with Center for Health Progress (CHP) on an innovative community-based research partnership.

In mid-August, the Collaborative on Media & Messaging for Health and Social Policy team gathered for a full team meeting, hosted at Wesleyan University. This gathering provided a valuable opportunity to connect in person, brainstorm ideas, and set the stage for the work we’ll be undertaking this year.

One of the key principles of community-engaged research is to involve communities in the process of asking research questions. Doing so enables the research to be more useful and practical in the real world, and also advances equity principles in the conduct of research by putting the affected communities closer to the center of the research...

In a recent study published in Social Science & Medicine, Jiawei Liu and Jeff Niederdeppe examined studies about social comparison framing of health disparities.

The political discourse surrounding identity is particularly heated in early 2024, as the United States lurches toward another momentous election. Between news coverage of ongoing political attacks on college campuses and corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion issues; persistent attention to the roles of antisemitism and Islamophobia...

It is now abundantly clear that Republicans and Democrats have divergent views about COVID-19 – as evidenced by partisan gaps in attitudes, beliefs, and even behaviors, like wearing masks or getting a vaccine. Research has also demonstrated that people perceive the concept of health equity through the lens of partisanship. In a new study...

In a recent study published in Human Communication Research, Jiawei Liu and Jeff Niederdeppe examined the effects of public health messages that feature cancer risk comparisons and screening rate comparisons between Black Americans and White Americans.

The Collaborative on Media & Messaging for Health and Social Policy team gathered for a full team retreat in August, hosted at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

The Covid-19 pandemic posed a particularly difficult challenge for public health communicators because the information environment was rife with partisan cues and messaging that often contradicted or challenged the authority of scientific experts. The media played an ambiguous role in this regard: On the one hand, it served as a conduit for...