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Study shows narrative conversion messages boost attitudes about COVID vaccinations among unvaccinated adults
LAWRENCE — New University of Kansas research shows that a specific type of narrative message can directly improve attitudes and indirectly reduce resistance among people who have never been vaccinated for COVID-19. A New Faculty Research and Development Award from KU supported the study, published in the Health Communication journal.
Theatre design students advance to Kennedy Center national festival
LAWRENCE — Two Department of Theatre & Dance students will represent the University of Kansas in April at the national Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in Washington, D.C., following regional competition. Hana Rose North, from Salina, earned a National Sound Design award for “Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties.” Edmund Ludlum, from Topeka, earned a National Costume Design award for “Cabaret” and a Representation, Equity, and Diversity Principles in Design award. Other honorees include students and recent graduates from Lawrence and Wichita who received commendations.
KU sociology faculty member honored with 2023 Woodyard award
LAWRENCE — Mehrangiz Najafizadeh, associate professor of sociology at the University of Kansas, is the recipient of the 2023 George and Eleanor Woodyard International Educator Award. She will give a talk on her work at 4 p.m. April 9 in the Kansas Union’s Big 12 Room. The award recognizes Najafizadeh’s extensive collaboration and connection with international scholars in Eurasia and Central Asia, including two Fulbright Scholar awards to Azerbaijan, and her efforts to build institutional partnerships in that region.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings
Study shows narrative conversion messages boost attitudes about COVID vaccinations among unvaccinated adults
LAWRENCE — Public health communicators have tried numerous methods to encourage people to accept COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters. And while some messages were ineffective, new University of Kansas research discovered a specific type of narrative message — a conversion message — can directly improve attitudes and indirectly reduce resistance among people who have never been inoculated for COVID-19.
The experimental study also found that people were persuaded differently depending on their pre-treatment levels of general vaccine hesitancy beliefs.
Researchers tested two-sided conversion messages — in which a person told a story about how they were initially resistant to getting vaccinated for COVID-19 but eventually refuted these beliefs and changed their mind after infection — against one-sided advocacy messages, in which people said they always intended to get vaccinated after contracting COVID-19. The results confirmed that conversion messages improved attitudes.
Jeff Conlin, assistant professor of journalism & mass communications, led the study, in which participants were randomly assigned one of three conversion messages or one of three advocacy messages. After reading the message, participants answered questions assessing how they perceived the strength of the argument and the extent to which the author of the message was similar to themselves.
“Overall, compared to advocacy messages, conversion messages were more effective in increasing positive attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines. Since the entire sample was unvaccinated, we were also interested in how conversion messages could reduce their resistance,” Conlin said. “Our findings revealed the route to decreasing resistance was circuitous but also significant.”
The researchers employed an analytical method called structural equation modeling to reduce measurement error and understand the broader relationships, or paths, between the message manipulations and cognitive variables. The analysis showed significant indirect effects of conversion messages on resistance to vaccination through intervening cognitive processes. Results in the final accepted structural equation model showed that resistance was significantly reduced following conversion message exposure through a path that initially included homophily, or participants’ perceived similarity of the author to themselves. It was then tested through argument strength, or participants’ assessment of how convincing the message seemed; and finally, through elevated attitudes about COVID-19 vaccination.
“We wanted to better understand the relationships between intervening variables, or what was happening after message exposure but before people formed their attitudes and resistance intentions, because these constructs represent different mechanisms of cognitive processing — fast and slow thinking,” Conlin said.
The authors’ explanation for the results was that there was likely a high degree of matching between the conversion message author’s perceived psychological state and the beliefs held by the unvaccinated sample. As participants moved from homophily, or from a less effortful mode of fast-processing to argument strength, an effortful slow-scrutinizing process, they may have recognized that their judgment about vaccination was called into question. More effortful processing was needed to compensate for a reduction in their confidence in self-judgments and resulted in a need to more closely evaluate the arguments in the message.
“What’s interesting is that participants were not just relying on a mental shortcut of recognizing similarity between the author and themselves before forming attitudes and intentions — they were also scrutinizing the argument,” Conlin said. “Ultimately, participants found the outcome of the message was acceptable. Along with increasing positive attitudes, these results showed that participants’ intentions to resist COVID-19 vaccines were indirectly reduced.”
The researchers also found different indirect routes to reduce vaccination resistance depending on participants’ self-reported levels of general vaccine hesitancy. Participants who exhibited higher levels of hesitancy (prior to receiving the message treatment) showed reduced resistance through homophily, followed by argument strength. Meanwhile, participants who exhibited lower levels of vaccine hesitancy used only argument strength, not homophily, when processing the message. For this group, however, indirect message effects on intentions to resist were not significant.
According to the authors, the findings lend empirical support to established dual processing theories such as the Heuristic Systematic Model that describe additive and biased serial processing, which also can be applied to practice. Practically speaking, if public health communicators know that both types of processing occur serially, as opposed to simultaneously, and that homophily plays a default role, they can look for matches between a storyteller with a compelling conversion story and the target audience, Conlin said.
“What the author of the conversion message reveals about their former beliefs should overlap with current beliefs held by the target audience. Not only that, but the reasons the author shares about their conversion experience need to be convincing and well-told,” he said.
The study, co-written with Sushma Kumble of Towson University and Michelle Baker and Fuyuan Shen of Penn State University, was published in the Health Communication journal. A New Faculty Research and Development Award from KU supported the study.
The work builds on research Conlin and colleagues previously conducted that showed two-sided conversion messages were more effective in persuading vaccine-hesitant participants than one-sided advocacy messages prior to the mass availability of vaccines.
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Contact: Lisa Coble-Krings, Department of Theatre & Dance, 785-864-5685, [email protected], @KUTheatre, @KUDanceDept
Theatre design students advance to Kennedy Center national festival
LAWRENCE — Two Department of Theatre & Dance students will represent the University of Kansas in April at the national Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) in Washington, D.C., following their recent KCACTF-Region V competition.
Hana Rose North, a sophomore in theatre design from Salina, earned a National Sound Design award for “Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties.” Edmund Ludlum, a senior in theatre design and history of art from Topeka, earned a National Costume Design award for “Cabaret” and a Representation, Equity, and Diversity Principles in Design award.
Outstanding work from the department was also recognized through 13 regional commendations, which were all tied to fully realized University Theatre productions in 2023. The following is a list of those commendations:
For the production of “Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties” by Jen Silverman
Cast for Ensemble Performance.
North for Sound Design.
Kennedy Tolar, a junior in theatre from Tulsa, Oklahoma, for Stage Management.
“Cabaret” by John Kander and Fred Ebb
Cast for Ensemble Performance.
Ludlum for Costume Design.
Jonah Greene, doctoral candidate in theatre studies, for Dramaturgy.
Leah Mazur, a guest artist, KU graduate and area head of the BFA in Design and Technology for the Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of Texas-Arlington, for Scenic Design.
“Love and Information” by Caryl Churchill
Greene for Dramaturgy.
Sara Baird, an MFA in scenography student from Tulsa, Oklahoma, for Lighting Design.
Kieran Spears, a recent KU graduate from Lawrence, for Sound Design.
“Milking Christmas: A New Musical” written by Friend Dog Studios and Ryan McCall
Connor Maloney, a junior in theatre design from Wichita, for Stage Management.
Brad Mathewson, a freelance writer and recent KU graduate, for Dramaturgy & Lobby Design.
Tara Leigh Burgat, a senior in dance and freelance choreographer and performer based in Kansas City, for Choreography.
“We’re extremely proud of our students’ talent and hard work,” said Henry Bial, chair of the theatre & dance department. “These achievements — the latest in a long line of regional and national recognitions for KU — also highlight the outstanding education and mentorship provided by our faculty and staff.”
Kelly Vogel, head of scenography and associate teaching professor in the department, said getting to share in the growth of the students is always a treat.
“This conference gives them a chance to receive feedback on their work and experience workshops from professionals outside of our region,” Vogel said. “They leave the conference with a new understanding of how to achieve their goals and a new sense of how their work speaks to other artists.”
The KCACTF-Region V annual conference and awards took place in January 2024 in Des Moines, Iowa. Region V includes Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Throughout 2023, KCACTF representatives visited Lawrence to judge the submitted plays and provide responses.
KCACTF is a national theatre program created through the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which celebrates excellence in university and college theatre programs.
The University Theatre is a production wing of the University of Kansas’ Department of Theatre & Dance, offering public productions throughout the academic year. The University Theatre productions are funded in part by KU Student Senate fees with additional support from Truity Credit Union.
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Contact: Christine Metz Howard, International Affairs, [email protected], @KUintlaffairs
KU sociology faculty member honored with 2023 Woodyard award
LAWRENCE — Mehrangiz Najafizadeh, associate professor of sociology at the University of Kansas, is the recipient of the 2023 George and Eleanor Woodyard International Educator Award. She will give a talk on her work in international education during an award presentation and reception at 4 p.m. April 9 in the Kansas Union’s Big 12 Room.
The award recognizes Najafizadeh’s extensive collaboration and connection with international scholars in Eurasia and Central Asia, including two Fulbright Scholar awards to Azerbaijan, and her efforts to build institutional partnerships in that region. In addition, the award honors Najafizadeh’s 30-year association with the Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies and her work with the centers for Russian, Eastern European & Eurasian Studies and Global & International Studies as well as her excellence in teaching and her commitment to incorporating international and cross-cultural perspectives into the classroom.
“Dr. Najafizadeh has devoted her career to teaching and mentoring, research and service related to international issues. Her commitment to the internationalization of the curriculum and to enhancing the international perspective of students represents the ideals of the Woodyard International Educator Award,” wrote Joane Nagel, University Distinguished Professor of Sociology, in a nomination letter.
Najafizadeh earned her master’s degree and doctorate at KU and began teaching as an associate professor in 1993, the same year she was named associate director of CLACS. She held the position for six years and has been a pillar of Latin American and Caribbean studies and among the center’s top faculty contributors since then, noted Brent Metz, director of CLACS and professor of anthropology.
“She has made a tremendous impact on our center, sacrifices for Latin Americanist students across campus, and has much to do with its Title VI successes over the decades,” Metz wrote in a nomination letter.
International partnerships and research
Over the past 20 years, Najafizadeh’s research has centered on Eurasia, where she traveled to Azerbaijan as a Fulbright Scholar in 2004 and 2022 and as a Fulbright senior specialist in 2005 and 2008.
Saadat Aliyeva, rector of Azerbaijan University, noted that university colleagues were so impressed with Najafizadeh as a recent Fulbright Scholar that they encouraged her to apply for another grant so she could return and are looking to collaborate further with KU.
“Her international and global perspective, teaching style, research activities and her mentoring of our students have enriched our university’s mission of internationalization of the curriculum and educational programs,” Aliyeva wrote in a nomination letter.
Najafizadeh has also led efforts to develop international partnerships with Azerbaijan’s Khazar University and Baku State University and is a founding member of the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus Azerbaijan Research Center.
Recognized by scholars globally, Najafizadeh’s research focuses on gender, religion, culture, and internally displaced persons and refugees from the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
In her nomination letter, Linda Lindsey, senior lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis and professor emerita at Maryville University of St. Louis, noted that Najafizadeh’s ability to speak the Azerbaijani language fluently and her in-depth cultural knowledge has allowed her to connect with women who are refugees in their homeland.
“These women offer narratives that few researchers have uncovered. Dr. Najafizadeh displays the essential cultural sensitivity to effectively dialogue with women on such difficult issues,” Lindsey wrote.
Najafizadeh and Lindsey co-edited the anthology “Women of Asia: Globalization, Development, and Gender Equity,” which contained 32 original chapters from 40 scholars representing countries across Asia. Najafizadeh, as the lead co-editor of the anthology, wrote the chapter “Women in Azerbaijan: Decades of Change and Challenges.”
“I cannot imagine a better partner than Dr. Najafizadeh for academic rigor as we navigated this challenging but successful process,” Lindsey wrote.
Mentoring and teaching
Multiple nominators also highlighted Najafizadeh’s dedication to students. Najafizadeh has been recognized with 15 teaching and mentoring awards during her time at KU and has served as a chair or member of 126 master’s and doctoral student committees.
Najafizadeh has made extensive contributions to KU’s mission of internationalization, Nagel noted, through her teaching of such courses as Comparative Societies for undergraduates and graduate seminars on globalization, development, gender and social change.
“She seeks not only to provide core knowledge but also create a learning environment where students are inspired to explore alternate perspectives and theoretical lenses to examine issues of international significance,” Nagel wrote.
Father Michael Hermes, vicar for Hispanic ministry in the Archdiocese Kansas City in Kansas, believes taking Najafizadeh’s graduate seminar Global Social Change and Development had a profound impact on how he serves the Latin American immigrant community and made him a more effective priest.
“It helped me understand better the push and pull factors of migration and helped me to focus more attention on gender roles and to consider the immense pressure on family life,” Hermes wrote in a nomination letter.
Meredith Church Pipes, former student and current global and civic engagement specialist at Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University, recalled in her nomination letter the essential role Najafizadeh played in guiding her through the thesis process, helping her choose lines of inquiry, narrow her focus and hone in on important themes.
“Dr. Najafizadeh is not merely a teacher; she is a mentor, a guide and a source of inspiration,” she wrote. “Her commitment to fostering international awareness, cross-cultural understanding and academic excellence is noteworthy.”
In a nomination letter Lisa-Marie Wright, former student and current associate teaching professor of sociology, noted that Najafizadeh is one of the most knowledgeable, devoted researchers and educators she has encountered. Wright highlighted that Najafizadeh inspires students to broaden their knowledge and further their understanding of issues at the intersection of gender and global political-economic development.
“I have experienced first-hand the extraordinary amount of labor and effort that she puts into mentoring her students and the deep intellectual and emotional connections she forges with her students,” Wright wrote.
The late George Woodyard, the first dean of international studies, and his wife, Eleanor, endowed the award, which KU International Affairs coordinates. The award includes a $1,000 stipend. A full list of previous recipients is online.
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