Media+Health Lab
The Media+Health Lab at the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture brings together a team of interdisciplinary scholars who focus on digital, visual and social media research for promoting health and reducing health disparities. Areas of expertise and current research include mental health, substance use, infectious diseases, violence prevention, women’s health and sexual health, and environmental communication.
The Media+Health Lab is based in Richmond, Va. on Virginia Commonwealth University's campus. Learn more about our work below and stay in touch with us on Twitter.
Funded Grants
The Media+Health Lab at VCU's Robertson School is proud to receive funding for the following work.
- Guidry, J.P.D., O’Donnell, N.H., Carlyle, K.E., & Miller, C.A. (2019) #Doesanybodycare: Encouraging Suicide- and Depression-Related Bystander Behavior on Instagram. Funding Source: Virginia Commonwealth University (Funded, $49,893).
- Guidry, J.P.D., O’Donnell, N.H., & Austin, L.L., Coman, I.A., & Adams, J.W. (2019). Tell me about the #fluvaccine: Using narratives to encourage vaccination. Funding Source: Arthur Page Center (Funded, $5,000).
- Guidry, J.P.D., Carlyle, K.E., Johnson, J., Bodnar-Deren, S., & Dick, D. (2018) #Social4Health: Promoting College Student Social and Mental Wellbeing using Social Media. Funding Source: VCU College of Humanities and Sciences SEED grant (Funded, $4,280)
- Guidry, J.P.D., O’Donnell, N.H., & Adams, J.W. (2018). Promoting pro-environmental behaviors through visual social media. Funding Source: AEJMC’s Emerging Scholar Award (Funded, $3,500).
- O’Donnell, N.H., Guidry, J.P.D., & Adams, J.W. (2018). Promoting public health and ecosystem health in the Lower James River basin. Funding Source: The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (Funded. $11,420).
Lab Publications
Explore published work from the Media+Health Lab by topics including mental health, infectious disease and other health-focused areas.
Guidry, J.P.D., Kim, S., Cacciatore, M. A., Jin, Y., & Messner, M. (In press). Dissecting the root of vaccine misinformation on Pinterest: Examining anti-vaccine organizations’ conflict strategies and risk communication. The Electronic Journal of Communication.
Guidry, J.P.D., Coman, I.A., Vraga, E.K., O’Donnell, N.H., & Sreepada, N. (2020). (S)pin the Flu Vaccine: Recipes for Concern. Vaccine 38, 5498-5506
Guidry, J.P.D., Meganck, S.L., Perrin, P.B., Messner, M., Lovari, A., & Carlyle, K.E. (2020). #Ebola on Pinterest and Twitter: How publics address the health crisis in the light of risk perception and health behaviors. Accepted at Atlantic Journal of Communication.
Guidry, J.P.D., Carlyle, K.E., Perrin, P.B., LaRose, J.G., Ryan, M., & Messner, M. (2019). A path model of psychosocial constructs predicting Zika vaccine uptake intent. Vaccine, 37, 5233-5241.
Guidry, J.P.D., Carlyle, K.E., LaRose, J.G., Perrin, P.B., Messner, M., & Ryan, M. (2019). Using the Health Belief Model to Analyze Instagram Posts about Zika for Public Health Communications. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 25(1), 179.
Guidry, J.P.D., Carlyle, K.E., LaRose, J. G., Perrin, P.B., Ryan, M., Messner, M., & Adams, J.W. (2018). Framing and visual type: Effect on future Zika vaccine uptake intent. Journal of Public Health Research, 7(1).
Guidry, J.P.D., Jin, Y., Orr, C.A., Messner, M., & Meganck, S.L. (2017). #Ebola on Instagram and Twitter: How health organizations address the health crisis in their social media engagement. Public Relations Review, 43(3), 477-486.
Guidry, J.P.D., Messner, M., Carlyle, K.E., & Jin, Y. (2015). On pins and needles: How vaccines are portrayed on Pinterest. Vaccine 33, 5051-5056.
Guidry, J.P.D., O’Donnell, N.H., Miller, C.A., Perrin, P.B., & Carlyle, K.E. (In press). Pinning pain, despair, and distress: Suicide-related visual content on Pinterest. Crisis.
Carlyle, K.E., Guidry, J.P.D., Williams, K., Tabaac, A., & Perrin, P.B. (2018). Suicide conversations on Instagram™: contagion or caring? Journal of Communication in Healthcare, 11(1), 12-18.
Guidry, J.P.D., Zhang, Y., Jin, Y., & Parrish, C. (2016). Portrayals of Depression on Pinterest and Why Public Relations Practitioners Should Care. Public Relations Review, 42(1), 232-234.
Laestadius, L.I., Guidry, J.P.D., Greskoviak, G., & Anderson, J. (In press). Making “Weedish Fish”: An Exploratory Analysis of Cannabis Recipes on Pinterest. Substance Use and Misuse.
Guidry, J.P.D., Haddad, L.G., Jin, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2017). #Hookah, #Shisha, #Narghile: The portrayal of #waterpipe smoking on Instagram. Journal of Healthcare Communications, 2(3).
Guidry, J.P.D., Jin, Y., Smith, J., Zhang, Y., & Haddad, L. (2016). How health risks are pinpointed (or not) on social media: The portrayal of waterpipe smoking on Pinterest. Health Communication, 31(6), 659-667.
Miller, C.A., Guidry, J.P., & Fuemmeler, B. F. (2019). Breast Cancer Voices on Pinterest: Raising Awareness or Just an Inspirational Image? Health education & behavior, 46(2_suppl), 49S-58S.
O’Donnell, N. H., Willoughby, J. F. (2017). Photo-sharing social media for eHealth: Analyzing perceived message effectiveness of sexual health information on Instagram. The Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine. 40 (4), 149-159. DOI: 10.1080/17453054.2017.1384995
Guidry, J.P.D., Sawyer, A.N., Burton, C.W. & Carlyle, K.E. (In press). #NotOkay: Stories about Abuse on Instagram and Twitter. Accepted at Partner Abuse.
Carlyle, K.E., Guidry, J.P.D., Daugherty, S., & Burton, C.W. (In press). Intimate Partner Violence on Instagram: Visualizing a Public Health Approach to Prevention. Accepted at Health Education and Behavior.
Carlyle, K.E., Guidry, J.P.D. & Burton, C.W. (In press). Recipes for Prevention: An Analysis of Intimate Partner Violence Messages on Pinterest. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Burton, C.W. & Guidry, J.P.D. (2021). Reporting Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Assault: A mixed methods study of concerns and considerations among college women of color. Journal of Transcultural Nursing.
Guidry, J.P.D., Meganck, S.L., Lovari, A., Messner, M., Adams, J., Sherman, S., & Medina-Messner, V. (In press). Tweeting about #diseases and #publichealth: Communicating global health issues across nations. Health Communication.
Guidry, J.P.D. & Benotsch, E. (2019). Pinning to Cope: Using Pinterest for Chronic Pain Management. Health Education and Behavior.