Browsing by Author "Bute, Jennifer Jo"

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    Challenges of acquiring intercultural communicative competence : based on international students’ perspectives
    (2016-05) Sugumar, Varalakshmi; Bute, Jennifer Jo; Parrish-Sprowl, John; Goering, Elizabeth M.
    Each year thousands of international students enroll in universities across the United States of America. However, we know very little about the challenges they encounter to become competent intercultural communicators in the American academic system. Therefore, the purpose of this is to use the basic components of Deardoff’s Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) model to explore the challenges international students face to acquire requisite attitudes, knowledge, and skills to achieve ICC. The study was conducted through in-depth interviews with eight foreign students who were enrolled in a large Midwestern university during the time of this study. Participants described about their experiences with the intercultural communication that took place between them and their American peers and professors. Results the thematic analysis revealed the presence of four main themes and several sub-themes.
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    Dentist-patient communication: How do patients make sense of oral health information and translate it into action?
    (2016-01) Laorujiralai, Kamolchanok; Goering, Elizabeth M.; Brann, Maria; Bute, Jennifer Jo
    Purpose: Patient-provider communication has been studied extensively in the last two decades, and many researchers have confirmed the importance of communication between patient and provider in medical contexts. In spite of increased research in patient-provider communication in dentistry, dental care providers still report that patients often do not accurately follow oral health recommendations. Thus, there is the need for additional study on how patients make sense of the oral health information they receive and how they translate that information into action. This study aimed to obtain insight into how dental care patients perceive and make sense of the information they receive from their dentist and how they translate that information into action. Methods: 16 patients and 8 dentists from Indiana School of Dentistry’s (IUSD) Graduate Prosthodontic Clinic in Indianapolis, Indiana were included. Two in-depth interviews, one immediately following the dental visit and one 7-10 days later, were conducted with the patients, and one short interview was conducted with each patient’s dental care provider. Interviews were audio taped and transcribed. Results: The results show both patients and providers perceived the interaction during consultation positively. The majority of patients were able to accurately recall information they received from their dentists and made sense of new information through the lens of their previous experiences. Four additional factors that explain patients’ adherence with health advice were also found in addition to the previous studies. Conclusions: Successful dentist-patient interaction could be thought of as a match between what dentists think patients need to know, what patients think they want/need to know, and what patients actually know. Thus, some barriers that can keep dentists and patients from reaching information equilibrium are discussed. The study concludes by offering practical and theoretical implications.
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    How elements of culture have contributed to the construction of health meanings in regards to the 2014 Ebola outbreak
    (2016-06) Balde, Abdourahmane; Goering, Elizabeth M.; Bute, Jennifer Jo; Parrish-Sprowl, John
    The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which elements of culture (values, beliefs, and behaviors) have contributed to the construction of health meaning in regards to 2014 Ebola outbreak in Guinea. I conducted 14 interviews with people who lived in Guinea during the 2014 Ebola outbreak about their own experiences of the crisis and how health related messages were received by the general population. All the participants in this study were between 25 and 56 with an average age of 41. All participants agreed that culture played a crucial role in how people perceived the disease. It has also impacted the way people responded the prevention plans. When the ones did not believe in the existence of the disease, others did believe but because of certain customs, they were unable to follow public health safety recommendation.