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Action research is an approach to knowledge generation that can strengthen communities and institutions and is ideally suited to the advancement of academically-based service learning. Presents the history and goals of this approach to service learning, defining current challenges, providing examples from three action research projects responding to these challenges, and identifying questions for research on this approach. (SM)

YouTube's propagation of misleading protobacco content to youth has the potential to increase their protobacco beliefs, attitudes, and smoking behavior. We assessed the effects of potential interventions aimed at ameliorating the effect of misleading protobacco videos. An online experiment randomly exposed past and current young tobacco users (N = 716) between the ages of 15 and 19 years to real protobacco, pipe-focused YouTube content that was either shown in its original uncorrected form or edited to include either a propositional voiced and text-based rebuttal that warned about the health effects of smoking or a counternarrative that showed that a person who promoted protobacco messages was diagnosed with and eventually died from esophageal cancer. On average, the two interventions were equally effective at reducing the effects of protobacco messages on beliefs and attitudes. However, the narrative correction was more effective for participants who strongly identified with the character. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundHolding conspiracy beliefs regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has been associated with reductions in both actions to prevent the spread of the infection (eg, mask wearing) and intentions to accept a vaccine when one becomes available. Patterns of media use have also been associated with acceptance of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs. Here we ask whether the type of media on which a person relies increased, decreased, or had no additional effect on that person’s COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs over a 4-month period. ObjectiveWe used panel data to explore whether use of conservative and social media in the United States, which were previously found to be positively related to holding conspiracy beliefs about the origins and prevention of COVID-19, were associated with a net increase in the strength of those beliefs from March to July of 2020. We also asked whether mainstream news sources, which were previously found to be negatively related to belief in pandemic-related conspiracies, were associated with a net decrease in the strength of such beliefs over the study period. Additionally, we asked whether subsequent changes in pandemic conspiracy beliefs related to the use of media were also related to subsequent mask wearing and vaccination intentions. MethodsA survey that we conducted with a national US probability sample in March of 2020 and again in July with the same 840 respondents assessed belief in pandemic-related conspiracies, use of various types of media information sources, actions taken to prevent the spread of the disease and intentions to vaccinate, and various demographic characteristics. Change across the two waves was analyzed using path analytic techniques. ResultsWe found that conservative media use predicted an increase in conspiracy beliefs (β=.17, 99% CI .10-.25) and that reliance on mainstream print predicted a decrease in their belief (β=–.08, 99% CI –.14 to –.02). Although many social media platforms reported downgrading or removing false or misleading content, ongoing use of such platforms by respondents predicted growth in conspiracy beliefs as well (β=.072, 99% CI .018-.123). Importantly, conspiracy belief changes related to media use between the two waves of the study were associated with the uptake of mask wearing and changes in vaccination intentions in July. Unlike other media, use of mainstream broadcast television predicted greater mask wearing (β=.17, 99% CI .09-.26) and vaccination intention (β=.08, 95% CI .02-.14), independent of conspiracy beliefs. ConclusionsThe findings point to the need for greater efforts on the part of commentators, reporters, and guests on conservative media to report verifiable information about the pandemic. The results also suggest that social media platforms need to be more aggressive in downgrading, blocking, and counteracting claims about COVID-19 vaccines, claims about mask wearing, and conspiracy beliefs that have been judged problematic by public health authorities.

Televised public service announcements are video ads that are a key component of public health campaigns against smoking. Under-standing the neurophysiological correlates of anti-tobacco ads is an important step toward novel objective methods of their evaluation and design. In the present study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the brain and behavioral effects of the interaction between content ("argument strength," AS) and format ("message sensation value," MSV) of anti-smoking ads in hu-mans. Seventy-one nontreatment-seeking smokers viewed a sequence of 16 high or 16 low AS ads during an fMRI scan. Dependent variables were brain fMRI signal, the immediate recall of the ads, the immediate change in intentions to quit smoking, and the urine levels of a major nicotine metabolite cotinine at a 1 month follow-up. Whole-brain ANOVA revealed that AS and MSV interacted in the inferior frontal, inferior parietal, and fusiform gyri; the precuneus; and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dMPFC). Regression analysis showed that the activation in the dMPFC predicted the urine cotinine levels 1 month later. These results characterize the key brain regions engaged in the processing of persuasive communications and suggest that brain fMRI response to anti-smoking ads could predict subsequent smoking severity in nontreatment-seeking smokers. Our findings demonstrate the importance of the quality of content for objective ad outcomes and suggest that fMRI investigation may aid the prerelease evaluation of televised public health ads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although research has established the existence of an association between smoking and depression among adolescents, researchers have not reached consensus on the nature of the association., Objectives: The purpose of this paper is to review the literature, to examine the nature of the relationship between smoking and depression in adolescence, and to suggest future research directions., Method: A literature search was conducted from the following six databases: (a) Ovid MEDLINE, (b) CINAHL, (c) PubMed Unrestricted, (d) PsycINFO, (e) ERIC, and (f) Sociological Abstracts. The combinations of the words, "depression," "smoking," "tobacco," "adolescent," and "teen" were used for keyword searches to find relevant articles., Results: In 47 of 57 studies, significant associations between smoking and depression were found. However, these significant relationships may either be spurious or unrelated to depression because a substantial number of studies did not adjust for confounders or did not use validated instruments to measure depression. Additionally, if the relationship is causal, its direction remains controversial. Five relationships have been suggested: (a) Depression causes smoking, (b) smoking causes depression, (c) there is a bidirectional relationship between smoking and depression, (d) smoking and depression occur due to confounders, and (e) subgroups with different relationships between the two conditions exist., Conclusions: It is necessary to further explore the relationship between smoking and depression. Future research should consider the need for: (a) longitudinal research designs, (b) more accurate measurement of depression, and (c) the control of confounders between smoking and depression.