Description:

Throughout the Spring Quarter, the Center for Latinx Digital Media invites you to a series of weekly seminars held over Zoom on Thursdays. You can now register (click here) to the seminar on Thursday, May 13, 2021 at 12-1 PM US CT, where Prof. Yonaira M. Rivera (Rutgers University – New Brunswick) will give a presentation entitled "Understanding the impact of engagement with cancer (mis)information among Latino Facebook users." 

Abstract: This study explored how U.S. Latinos (n=20) engage with, assess the credibility of, and act upon cancer prevention & screening information on Facebook through content and thematic analyses. Results demonstrate that both engagement and credibility assessments – as influenced by cultural values and other cultural connectors – appear to impact how some Latinos choose to act upon information, both online and offline. Actions were sometimes informed by inaccurate credibility assessments, which may lead to potentially harmful outcomes.

Yonaira M. Rivera (PhD, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health) is an Assistant Professor at Rutgers School of Communication & Information. Her scholarship explores health communication initiatives to reduce Latinx health inequities. She studies social media health misinformation and cancer control and prevention using qualitatively-driven mixed-methods and community-based participatory research.

This event is co-sponsored by the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, the Center for Global Culture and Communication, the Department of Communication Studies, the Department of Radio/Television/Film, and the Latina and Latino Studies Program.