Evaluating Risk Communications: Completing and Correcting Mental Models of Hazardous Processes, Part II

We propose a decision-analytic framework, called the mental models approach , for evaluating the impact of risk communications. It employs multiple evaluation methods, including think-aloud protocol analysis, problem solving, and a true-false test that allows respondents to express uncertainty about their answers. The approach is illustrated in empirical comparisons of three brochures about indoor radon.     

After the highwayman: Syntax and successful placement of press releases in newspapers

This study proves once again that too many press releases are poorly written and over-written, with long sentences and paragraphs, and poor syntax as well as weak and passive construction. In their use of press releases, journalists almost always have to make them simpler, shorter, easier to read, and less passive.The authors conclude that success in writing of press releases requires brevity and simplicity, shorter paragraphs, sentences, and words, and the elimination of the passive voice.Timothy Walters is an assistant professor of communication at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX. Lynne Walters is associate professor of journalism and Douglas Starr professor of journalism, both at Texas A&M University, College Station. Lynne Walters is currently a Fulbright professor at the American Journalism Center in Budapest, where her husband Timothy is also on a one-year appointment as a visiting professor.     

An Integrational Model of Quality of Life in Older Age. Results from the ESRC/MRC HSRC Quality of Life Survey in Britain

This paper is based on the results of anational survey of the quality of life of 999randomly sampled people aged 65 and over,living at home in Britain. The survey wassemi-structured, and a sample of surveyrespondents was followed up and interviewedin-depth in order to explore their perceptionsof quality of life in full. Comparisons aremade here between the results of (i) ahierarchical multiple regression model basedon theoretically derived indicators of survey respondents' ratings of their overall quality of life, with (ii) the samerespondents' own definitions of quality oflife, categorised from their responses toopen ended survey questions, and (iii) theviews of a sub-sample of these survey respondents who were subsequently interviewed in greater depth. Respondents were asked theopen ended questions on quality of life at theoutset of the survey interview in order toprevent any respondent bias from thestructured measures used.The core components, and the central planks,of quality of life, which were consistentlyemphasised by the three approaches, were psychological characteristics and outlook,health and functional status, personal andneighbourhood social capital. The lay modelsalso emphasised the importance of financialcircumstances and independence, which need tobe incorporated into a definition of broader quality of life.     

Cross national study of perceived service quality in long-term care facilities

This cross-national study of 306 nursing home residents in the United States and the United Kingdom examines the similarities and differences in their evaluation of service quality. Service quality was defined as the differences between expectations about the service and actual perceptions of the service delivered in terms of five dimensions: tangibles, assurance, empathy, reliability and responsiveness. The SERVQUAL instrument was used to measure service quality. The two groups differed in their expectations for quality and their perceptions of service quality: US residents' ratings were lower in all respects.