Current Research Team Projects
Organizational Identification and Technology Use to Communicate Health Information: Partnership with Austin Regional Clinic.
This project is part of a larger partnership with ARC that involves Prof. Mike Mackert and Prof. Erin Donovan. Our project examines healthy heart messages and considers issues of organizational identification and health literacy. Graduate Research Assistants: Angie Pastorek & Brittany Crook. So far we have produced three published papers from our research.
Stephens, K. K., Pastorek, A., Crook, B., Mackert, M., Donovan-Kicken, E., Shalev, H. (2015). Boosting employer-sponsored health dissemination efforts: Identification and information sharing intentions. Health Communication, 30, 209-220.
Crook, B., Stephens, K. K., Pastorek, A., Mackert, M., & Donovan, E. (in press) Sharing health information and influencing behavioral intentions: The role of health literacy, information overload, and the web in the diffusion of healthy heart information. Manuscript accepted for publication at Health Communication.
Donovan, E., Crook, B., Brown, L. E., Pastorek, A. E., Hall, C. A., Mackert, M. S., & Stephens, K. K. (2014). An experimental test of medical disclosure and consent documentation: Assessing patient comprehension, self-efficacy, and uncertainty. Communication Monographs, 81, 239-260.
Yaguang Zhu and I have produced a book chapter that pulls much of this research together:
Stephens, K. K., & Zhu, Y. (in press). Do I feel like I’m a part of this organization? Using technology to communicate about health. In T. R. Harrison & E. A. Williams (Eds). Organizations, Health, and Communication, Routledge. Anticipated publication, Sp15.
Interprofessional Communication & Technology Use: Partnership with Dell Children’s Medical Center.
This research team is focused on understanding how nurses, physicians, residents, and pharmacists use communication technologies to coordinate care. Our team of Millie Harrison, Professor Josh Barbour, and Professor Stephens is conducting observations, focus groups, interviews, and collecting survey data. In the next phase of work, we will examine families with the goal of understanding systems that better facilitate patient satisfaction and safety.
Delivering Repeated Health Messages Through Digital Media to Increase Physical Activity in Dialysis Patients.
This research team represents a partnership between UT Austin, Universidade Lusofono de Humanidades e Tecnologias, and an Austin Nephrology Practice. Our team is developing a digital media platform that utilizes content focused on diabetes care and physical activity. Yaguang Zhu is the primary research assistant on this project.
Mobile Communication in Emergency & Crisis Responses.
This project focuses on how organizations can use newer communication technologies like Twitter, Facebook, and text messaging to reach members of their organization and the public at large. Graduate Research Assistants: Jessica Ford & Yaguang Zhu
This team was funded by the National Communication Association and we worked with Marya Doerfel of Rutgers to conduct this research.
Thus far, Stephens & Ford have presented early work that grounded this project and their paper won the top award at the ISCRAM 2014 Conference.
Stephens, K. K., Ford, J. L., Barrett, A., & Mahometta, M. (2014). Alert networks of ICTs and sources in campus emergencies. In S. R. Hiltz, M. S. Pfaff, L. Plotnick, & A. C. Robinson (eds.). Proceedings of the 11th International ISCRAM Conference (pp. 650-659): University Park, Pennsylvania, USA, May 2014. Best Research Paper Award (1st out of 191 submissions).
In addition, we partnered with a team of transportation engineers and integrated organizational communication with traffic routes to produce the following paper:
Stephens, K. K., Jafari, E., Boyles, S., Ford, J. L., Zhu, Y. (in press). Increasing evacuation communication through ICTs: An agent-based model demonstrating evacuation practices and the resulting traffic congestion in the rush to the road. Manuscript accepted for publication at Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Understanding Why Some People Can’t Use Mobile Devices at Work.
This project focuses on organizational policies that prohibit people from using mobile phones during work. Graduate Research Assistant: Jessica Ford. This is one of our early papers from this project.
Stephens, K. K., & Ford, J. L. (2014). Banning mobile devices: Workplace policies that selectivelyexclude can shape crisis communication. (short paper format). In S. R. Hiltz, M. S. Pfaff, L. Plotnick, & A. C. Robinson (eds.).Proceedings of the 11th International ISCRAM Conference (pp. 277-281): University Park, Pennsylvania, USA, May 2014.
Team Overload: Communication Overload!
This project started as an undergraduate mentorship project and is taking on an exciting life. Our team conducted a Q-Sort in person and online to better understand what people think about communication overload. This team includes: Julia Kim, Elizabeth Glowacki, Dron Mandhana, Xiaoqian Li, Ignacio Cruz, Bea Scott, Caitlin Harrington, and Kelly Dziersk. We hope to develop a scale that defines and measures communication overload. No papers yet, so stay tuned.
Let’s Meet!
Student organizations provide college students and high school students with important opportunities to develop their leadership abilities. This undergraduate team is collecting data that should result in a guidebook to help student leaders run more effective meetings. The team is led by Eric Waters, Doctoral Student, and the Undergraduate Research Assistants are led by Ignacio Cruz, Junior, Communication Studies Major. We have produced two conference papers from this project so far.
Stephens, K. K., Cruz, I., & Waters, E. D. (November, 2015). What happens between meetings? Using ICTs and face-to-face communication to continue the meeting conversation and build social capital. Paper to be presented at the National Communication Association Conference in Las Vegas, NV.
Cruz, I., & Stephens, K. K. (2014, November). Don’t just sit in the back: Developing social capital through involvement and leadership in voluntary organizational meetings. Paper presented at the National Communication Association Conference, Chicago.
Helping Organizations Improve Communication.
This project is a large-scale data collection effort conducted in partnership between my Graduate Survey of Organizational Communication Course and the University of Texas University Operations. We have generated two conference papers from this project so far.
Media Management in Human Resources.
Human resource professionals in organizations need to be aware of many more technology communication tools than ever before. In this project our team is writing a book chapter that will appear in Meeting the challenge of human resource management: A communication perspective, Routledge. Graduate Research Assistants: Eric Waters & Caroline Sinclair
Stephens, K. K., Waters, E. D., & Sinclair, C. (2014). Media management: The integration of HR, technology, and people. In M. E. Gordon, & V. D. Miller (Eds). Meeting the challenge of human resource management: A communication perspective (pp. 215-226). New York: Routledge.