Journal article
Public Reaction to the Death of Steve Jobs: Implications for Cancer Communication
Journal of health communication, Vol.19(11), pp.1278-1295
11/02/2014
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/104947
PMID: 24716627
Abstract
The present study aimed to examine the public reaction to the death of Steve Jobs, focusing on general and cancer-specific information seeking and interpersonal communication. Shortly after Jobs's death, employees from a large university in the Southeastern United States (N = 1,398) completed a web-based survey. Every employee had heard about Steve Jobs's death, and 97% correctly identified pancreatic cancer as the cause of his death. General (50%) and pancreatic cancer-specific (7%) information seeking, as well as general (74%) and pancreatic cancer-specific (17%) interpersonal communication, took place in response to Steve Jobs's death. In multivariate logistic regression analyses controlling for demographics and several cancer-oriented variables, both identification with Steve Jobs and cancer worry in response to Steve Jobs's death significantly (p < .05) predicted pancreatic cancer information seeking as well as interpersonal communication about pancreatic cancer. Additional analyses revealed that cancer worry partially mediated the effects of identification on these outcome variables. Implications of these results for future research as well as cancer prevention and communication efforts are discussed.
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Details
- Title
- Public Reaction to the Death of Steve Jobs: Implications for Cancer Communication
- Creators
- Jessica Gall Myrick - School of Journalism , Indiana UniversitySeth M Noar - School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center , University of North Carolina at Chapel HillJessica Fitts Willoughby - School of Journalism and Mass Communication , University of North Carolina at Chapel HillJennifer Brown - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health , Institute for Global Tobacco Control
- Publication Details
- Journal of health communication, Vol.19(11), pp.1278-1295
- Academic Unit
- Strategic Communication, Department of
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis Group
- Grant note
- This study was supported by funding provided by the University of North Carolina's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the University Cancer Research Fund at the University of North Carolina.
- Identifiers
- 99900546657601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article