Research by King and his collaborators earns the Golden Anniversary Monograph Award.
The National Communication Association has awarded Andy J. King, an assistant professor in the Department of Public Relations at Texas Tech University, and his collaborators the prestigious Golden Anniversary Monograph Award for his research in the field of health communication.
“The project was completed a few years ago, but tracked behavioral data longitudinally, as the study tested how communicating information about colorectal cancer in a certain way influenced people adhering to colorectal cancer screening recommendations,” King said. “It took a total of about three years, which included designing the study and software used, carrying out the intervention and waiting to get the tracked data.”
Collaborating with King on the project were Jakob D. Jensen, Melinda M. Krakow and N. Jewel Samadder from the University of Utah; and Nick Carciopplo and Susan Morgan from the University of Miami.
They will be recognized as recipients of the 2015 Golden Anniversary Monograph Award at an annual ceremony held by the National Communication Association in November in Las Vegas.
King said the study looked at adherence to colorectal cancer screening recommendations from doctors through intervention among manufacturing workers and health care workers. After being exposed to narratives and other types of messages, respondents and their medical habits were studied via insurance claims for the next 18 months.
“Because of that, we were able to have behavioral outcomes linked to our intervention, and we found evidence that certain types of messages positively influenced people's health behaviors,” King said.
In addition to this study, King is continuing work on health-related communication research related to cancer prevention and organ donation.
Trent Seltzer, chairman of the Department of Public Relations, described King as an excellent scholar and congratulated him on receiving this prestigious award.
“Dr. King continues to build a reputation as one of the most outstanding and dynamic young scholars in our field,” Seltzer said.
King said, “Research is essential to being a better teacher. I'm a better teacher when I'm doing relevant research. Being a productive researcher is important to connecting with students in the classroom and preparing them for life after college.”