Abstract
Latinx college students in the US seek mental health services at lower rates than their white peers and as compared to the overall college student population. Thus, scholars have called for evidence-based, culturally informed interventions to address this concern. This research team, in a prior study, collected formative data to explore Latinx students’ perspectives on help-seeking. The current investigation builds upon that work by evaluating a series of messages, rooted in these data, guided by inoculation theory: a theory of persuasion and resistance. Through an experimental design, Latinx students’ attitudes toward mental health help-seeking before and after exposure to inoculation messages were collected. Messages were designed as static Instagram stories, featuring succinct testimonials from students who looked either Latinx or white. Additionally, the testimonials were written in both Spanish and English. All messages were evaluated via focus groups with Latinx students prior to the main study, in which participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, reflecting all combinations of source image and language. All images were created via artificial intelligence (AI) photography generation — the first inoculation study to the team’s knowledge to utilize AI. This adds to an emerging line of research into the efficacy of inoculation via social media. The investigation also collected levels of source credibility, novelty, and expectancy violation to explore the impact of the different AI-generated sources and message language on Latinx students’ attitudes toward strategic help-seeking communication. Lessons learned about using AI-generated images are discussed.
Presenters
Bobi IvanovProfessor, Integrated Strategic Communication, University of Kentucky, Kentucky, United States Kimberly A. Parker
Professor, Integrated Strategic Communication, University of Kentucky, Kentucky, United States Sarah A. Geegan
Assistant Professor, Integrated Strategic Communication, University of Kentucky, Kentucky, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Social Media, Online Media, Artificial Intelligence, Photography, Inoculation Theory
Digital Media
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