TY - JOUR
T1 - Social sides of health risks
T2 - Stigma and collective efficacy
AU - Smith, Rachel A.
AU - Ferrara, Merissa
AU - Witte, Kim
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported with primary support from the United States Agency for International Development under the Health Communication Partnership project (GPH-A–02–00008–00). We thank personnel at JHUCCP-Namibia and Research Facilitation Services for their contributions to this study.
PY - 2007
Y1 - 2007
N2 - Health threats may not occur in a vacuum; one may need others' support to address a given health condition. For example, in Namibia, parents dying from AIDS-related illnesses leave their orphaned children in need of adoption. If people do not feel threatened by HIV personally, social threats might motivate them to action. We extend the extended parallel process model (Witte, 1992) to include 2 social perceptions: (a) stigma and (b) collective efficacy. We found that Namibian respondents (n = 400) who did not feel threatened by HIV personally showed a relationship between these social perceptions and their willingness to support those living with HIV and their willingness to adopt AIDS orphans. These effects appeared for those who did not assess HIV as a health threat, suggesting that social threats, combined with efficacy, may motivate intentions to adopt recommended actions. Practical applications and intervention designs are discussed.
AB - Health threats may not occur in a vacuum; one may need others' support to address a given health condition. For example, in Namibia, parents dying from AIDS-related illnesses leave their orphaned children in need of adoption. If people do not feel threatened by HIV personally, social threats might motivate them to action. We extend the extended parallel process model (Witte, 1992) to include 2 social perceptions: (a) stigma and (b) collective efficacy. We found that Namibian respondents (n = 400) who did not feel threatened by HIV personally showed a relationship between these social perceptions and their willingness to support those living with HIV and their willingness to adopt AIDS orphans. These effects appeared for those who did not assess HIV as a health threat, suggesting that social threats, combined with efficacy, may motivate intentions to adopt recommended actions. Practical applications and intervention designs are discussed.
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U2 - 10.1080/10410230701283389
DO - 10.1080/10410230701283389
M3 - Article
C2 - 17461752
AN - SCOPUS:34249859213
SN - 1041-0236
VL - 21
SP - 55
EP - 64
JO - Health Communication
JF - Health Communication
IS - 1
ER -
