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Over the last twenty years, medical discourse has attracted a great deal of scholarly research. Language in healthcare settings has been more generally analysed through genres--whether in terms of expert-to-expert or expert-to-lay communication--whereas more specific aspects include the study of discourse strategies behind the expression of empathy, problems of media representation of healthcare issues, and the role played by cultural variables in healthcare contexts. While substantial research exists on medical discourse and the transmission of medical knowledge, a number of works still tend to focus on accuracy and comprehensiveness of content rather than on the linguistic analysis of communication strategies. In light of that, the aim of this work is to substantiate the findings in the literature published so far by bringing a genuinely discourse-based perspective to bear on them. To achieve this goal, a corpus investigation was carried out of web-based resources employed by a leading nationwide organisation to communicate to the public about cancer. The study focuses on the discourse functions of frequently occurring phraseology, in the attempt to address the following questions: (a) Are there any recurrent discourse patterns that tend to be reiterated across the sections of informative healthcare materials? (b) How are patients' needs addressed through the language of such materials? (c) More generally, how can findings be interpreted with a view to both their relevance to the context under analysis and their possible application in the language-learning classroom?

This study compares two modes of visually presenting information about wind energy--one using photographs and the other using cartoons--on audience's knowledge, attitudes and behavioural intentions. In an online experiment, participants were randomly assigned to the two treatments. Results indicate no significant difference between the two groups in terms of knowledge and attitudes, but those shown in the comics version showed stronger intentions to support wind energy than those shown as photos. Those exposed to the comics-aided brochure found it more informative, interesting and cognitively engaging. Those who saw the photo version found the brochure more credible.

This empirical study explores higher education advertising campaigns displayed in five world cities: Boston, New York, Oslo, Tokyo, and Toronto. The study follows a mixed-methods research design relying on content analysis and multimodal semiotic analysis and employs a conceptual framework based on the knowledge triangle of education, research, and innovation. The study reveals that education is overwhelmingly the strongest element emphasized across the five cities and that students constitute the most salient and central element in the majority of the advertisements.

Inactivity is a prevalent problem in the population affected with multiple sclerosis (MS). Thus, there is a need to develop and test physical activity (PA) interventions that can be widely disseminated. We conducted a formative evaluation as part of a randomized controlled trial of a pamphlet-based PA intervention among 30 women with MS. Pamphlets were customized to sub-sets of participants who shared similar symptoms and barriers to PA. Mixed methods were used to examine the intervention's influence on self-efficacy, social support, processes of change and stages of change placement, as well as explore participants' perceived barriers, motivators and strategies for engaging in a PA program. Results indicated that the intervention group significantly improved stages of change placement (F = 16.64, P < 0.01) and social support (F = 4.08, P = 0.05) in comparison to the control group. Fatigue, pain and lack of time were the commonly cited barriers to engage in the PA program; whereas the pamphlets, phone calls and action planning were cited as motivators. Participants used fatigue management strategies, enlisted social support and modified their environment to routinely engage in the PA program. Strategies were identified to improve the PA intervention in future research.

Environmental issues such as climate change are becoming ever more important in today's societies and politics. Information is spread by the media, for example, via the Internet or information brochures, employing different representational styles (e.g. sensational vs. neutral styles, emphasis of human vs. natural causes). We investigated the effects of such differences in presentation when informing about local impacts of climate change--more specifically about invasive species--on perceived risk, emotions, and learning. Seventy-two students at a German university read five brochures about the local effects of climate change and invasive species. They rated their perceived risk and emotions and worked on learning outcome tests. As expected, the sensational style led to higher perceived risk and stronger negative emotions than the neutral style. In addition, our results reveal a potential dilemma for environmental education: while a sensational style enhanced general learning outcomes, it seemed to lead to quite a negative and one-sided view about climate change and invasive species.

A service-learning project appropriate for a biochemistry or advanced biochemistry course was designed and implemented. The project involved students partnering with a homeless shelter to design informational pamphlets to be displayed at the shelter for the clients' use. The pamphlet topics were based on diseases studied within the course. Students were required to present a rough draft of their project to the class for comments and revisions and give a brief presentation. The assignment allowed students to use their knowledge and expertise learned within the course and to apply their education by creatively designing a public-service pamphlet. Integrating service learning into an upper-level biochemistry course improved student communication, writing, and critical-thinking skills. Students reported that the service-learning component of the course increased motivation to learn course content. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

This article presents a critical case study of an inner city state school that for a decade (1940s-1950s) attracted the interest of a wide contingency of educationalists, policy makers, researchers, artists and various press and film media. It has been argued that if we are to progress "social alternatives" in education, researchers need to construct "critical case studies of possibilities" drawing inspiration from traces of experimental and utopian practice in schools from the past as well as the present. The article demonstrates how this might be achieved through research that questions dominant narratives, goes beyond the public accounts of particular sites of experimentation and explores multiple-narratives embedded in the records of past practice. The authors argue that such situated counter-currents in the history of education are necessary both to inform our collective notions of past experience and enrich our regard for future possibilities.(Contains 2 figures,11 notes, and 5 primary sources.)

Background: Healthy Ageing is a complex intervention aimed at reducing the prevalence of loneliness among elderly Dutch people. Purpose: This study aimed to assess how mass media communication materials, information meetings, and psychosocial courses were received by elderly people at high risk of loneliness. Methods: Face-to-face interviews with 17 independently living elderly persons at increased risk of loneliness were conducted. They provided information about factors in?uencing attention to and acceptability of the content of the intervention components. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed with Atlas. Results: The mass media communication materials were not successful in attracting attention because interviewees' expectations about the communication channels differed from what was provided, the perceived personal relevance of the message was low, and the presentation was not attractive. The content of the intervention components was not well received because the objectives and components did not connect with the priority group's perception of their environment. Discussion: This study showed that the classical health education approach with one-way communication did not succeed in reaching the priority group. Translation to Health Education Practice: To select appropriate theoretical methods and practical strategies, such as using storytelling and personal invitation, we recommend involvement of the priority group. (Contains 2 tables.)

This article describes a crisis response framework based on the authors' first-hand experience following three Colorado school shootings. During each crisis response, one or more of the authors joined school and/or district crisis teams, providing direct assistance and leadership. The authors' experiences helped guide subsequent responses and assisted teams in better meeting the impacted school's needs. Lessons learned are shared with the intent of organizing and improving school-based crisis response to extreme acts of school violence.

Accessibility of early intervention program literature was examined through readability analysis of documents given to families who have a child served by the Birth to 3 program. Nine agencies that serve families in Birth to 3 programs located in a county in the Midwest provided the (n = 94) documents. Documents were included in the analysis if they conveyed information about the nature of the program, the financial obligations of the family, intervention planning, and programmatic consent. The analysis indicated that a majority of the documents were written above the recommended fifth-grade reading level. Action steps to improve the accessibility of early intervention documents are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

What students remember about their 8th grade study of American history is the historical simulations and the roles they played in them that stick in their memories. Other teachers across America have had similar successes implementing role-plays. Of course, these role-plays have an important place in the curriculum; to understand the controversies of antebellum America, students must re-imagine them from all sides. But is there a way to set up a role-play in which all students are on the right side of history? To solve this dilemma, this article discusses a simulation of an Abolitionist Society Convention in which students could role-play a truly diverse cast of characters working together for a common purpose. What the Abolitionist Society Convention allows students to see is that the most complex and nuanced debates in American history are not between those for and against social change, but among those who agree on the goal but disagree on the speed, scope, manner, and mode of change. The authors describe how to stage an Abolitionist Society Convention. (Contains 1 note.)

Joseph McCabe (1867-1955) was one of the most prolific and gifted polymaths of the twentieth century. Long before such a thing was thought respectable, and almost a century before any university established a chair in the public understanding of science, McCabe made a living as a populariser of science and a critic of philosophical and religious obscurantism. Through the first half of the twentieth century he wrote countless cheap and widely distributed books and pamphlets for those whose thirst for knowledge exceeded the money or time they could devote to such pursuits. This article will detail, and give some assessment of, McCabe's career as a populariser of science and expositor of evolutionary theory and its philosophical, religious and cultural ramifications.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify determinants of comprehension of an educational pamphlet on colon cancer, by adults at least 50 years of age living in the United States. Design: Data were analysed from the "2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy" survey. The survey was designed to assess functional English literacy, which included reading a colon cancer pamphlet, among American adults. Setting: The survey was carried out at interviewees' homes. Method: Data from 1231 adults who were 50 years of age or older were selected for the current study (mean age = 63.22 years). Results: Multiple regression analysis revealed that comprehension difficulties increased with age ([beta] = -0.13, p less than 0.001). Non-Black minority adults had poorer comprehension than Whites ([beta] = -0.10, p less than 0.001). Adults with a high school or further education had better comprehension than those with lower-level education ([beta] = 0.22, p less than 0.001). Comprehension was higher among adults who often received health information by talking to their health providers ([beta] = -0.12, p less than 0.001), and for adults who had high levels of verbal-reading fluency ([beta] = 0.24, p less than 0.001). In addition, increased English reading habits alone only marginally contributed to comprehension of the pamphlet ([beta] = -0.06, p = 0.06). Conclusion: Understanding the pamphlet was related to age, ethnic background, education, reading fluency and experiences in communication with health providers. Increasing communication between health providers and patients or tailoring the written materials to improve adults' knowledge of colon cancer is recommended. (Contains 4 tables.)

Objective: To determine the educational impact of placing partner violence resource information in a medical setting. Method: A cross-sectional study with a structured interview. Setting: Emergency department (ED) in an urban academic medical center. Participants: adult patients and visitors. Interventions: Educational materials and community resource information. Results: 51 patients and 71 visitors (N = 122) met the inclusion criteria and consented to enrollment during a 2-week study period. Of the participants, 71% were female and 29% were male. Sixty-five (53%) of the participants noticed the literature or cards. Ten (8%) read the materials. Seven (6%) retained a copy of the literature. Nineteen (16%) of the participants acknowledged knowing someone who could benefit from the information. Nine (7%) revealed that some of the information was new to them. Conclusions: Placing intimate partner violence resource pamphlets and cards in a medical setting is one means of educating the community and promoting violence prevention. (Contains 3 tables.)

Readability and usability problems with patient information leaflets continue to be reported despite long-standing recognition of their existence and the availability of guidelines for developing health education materials. This exploratory study examined possible causes for such problems, based on interviews with professionals who developed leaflets in large health organizations. Findings suggest that readability is an important concern for developers, but that complex organizational processes are involved in creating leaflets, and that developers face a need to cope with organizational politics, goal conflicts and various other pressures. Six factors were identified, i.e. (1) initiators, (2) intended users and contexts of use, (3) goals, (4) work flow and content decisions, (5) readability considerations, and (6) evaluation practices, that can adversely affect the content, organization, and resulting comprehensibility and usability of leaflets. It is suggested to adopt a broad ecological view of the environments in which patient education materials are created and deployed. Implications for practice and for future related research are discussed. (Contains 1 table.)

Relapse prevention remains a major challenge to smoking cessation efforts. T. H. Brandon, B. N. Collins, L. M. Juliano, and A. B. Lazev (2000) found that a series of 8 empirically based relapse-prevention booklets mailed to ex-smokers over 1 year significantly reduced relapse. This study dismantled 2 components of that intervention: the amount of content (number of booklets) and the frequency of contact. Content and contact were crossed in a 2 X 2 factorial design. The criteria of at least 1 week of abstinence at baseline was met by 431 participants, 75%-85% of whom returned 12-, 18-, and 24-month follow-up questionnaires. Eight booklets produced consistently higher point-prevalence abstinence rates than did a single booklet, but frequency of contact did not affect outcome. Moreover, the high-content interventions were highly cost-effective.

This paper explores the formation of a political order, a constituency, during the 1938-1940 senatorial campaign of the "Partido Popular Democratico" in Puerto Rico. In particular it examines the constitutive force of the "Catecismo del Pueblo," a small booklet in the form of questions and answers regarding the party's basic assumptions and orientations. This booklet developed a political constituency by mediating a covenantal relationship through discourse in the form of a catechism. Burke's notion of constitutional dialectics is used to explore the Catecismo's nature as constitutive, as a catechism, and as the mediator of a political covenant between the Party and the "jibaros."

The American Civil War, the War between the States, War of the Rebellion, the Second American Revolution, and the War of Southern Independence are all names for the bloodiest conflict in American history. That war of many names has inspired authors to write thousands of books and articles. With the advent of the Internet came a plethora of Web sites devoted to the topic. Many Civil War sites are well done, but a number of them have little or no value to educators and students. In this article the author has included the addresses of some noteworthy Web sites on this popular topic that can be used by students, faculty members, teachers, researchers, and librarians.

A treatment group (70 whites, 49 nonwhites) and control group (69 whites, 50 nonwhites) evaluated employer recruitment brochures and completed ethnic identity measures. The treatment group's brochure addressed diversity initiatives. Regardless of race, those with higher ethnic identity were more positive about the organization and had greater job intentions when viewing the diversity-related brochure. (Contains 59 references.) (SK)

Systematically examined the content and components of college viewbooks/brochures. Compiled findings on: (1) physical components (e.g., photographs and slogans); (2) message content based on school characteristics such as size, type of school, enrollment, location, etc.; and (3) the type of image schools with different characteristics are seeking to portray. (EV)

Examined the usefulness of Means-End Theory in developing effective college recruitment brochures. Found evidence that brochures that emphasize attributes (e.g., cost, location) over consequences (e.g., getting a job) or values (e.g., security) will generate greater interest in an educational institution. (EV)

Describes collaboration between a college of education and urban and suburban school districts that supported dissemination of effective elementary practices across seven districts. Collaborators created four booklets describing best practices identified through research-based literature. Parent involvement, literacy instruction, multiage classrooms, and brain-based learning were targeted for attention. Two conferences to share the information were held. (SM)

Focus groups of recent Hmong and Somali immigrants provided information about effective design variables for public service brochures. Participants preferred a bilingual layout. Hmong participants did not like images showing native dress; Somali images must respect cultural aspects of dress. (Author/JOW)

A brochure was designed to communicate information to tourists about the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and its need for protection. A survey of 673 visitors evaluated the effectiveness of distribution methods, effectiveness of the brochure in communicating its intended messages, map effectiveness, visitor opinions of various brochure features, and visitor knowledge level. (Contains 30 references.) (SV)

States survey of college juniors, seniors, and graduate students found that recruiting brochures are the primary job-hunting resource for students. Brochures provide job seekers not only an introduction to and background information about companies, but also a means of selecting prospective employers. Suggested ways to increase effectiveness of brochure include details about available jobs, ideas on company growth, and comments by employees in credible situations. (Author/JDM)

This is an Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) pamphlet which reviews economic and technical considerations for the future development of energy sources. Included are sections on petroleum, synthetic fuels, oil shale, nuclear power, geothermal power, and solar energy. Also presented are data pertaining to U.S. energy production and consumption, typical project times to complete development of various types of energy facilities, and estimated U.S. energy reserves. (SL)