Marifran Mattson

Research

Dr. Mattson’s research and teaching program explores the intersection of health, interpersonal, and organizational communication. She is particularly interested in exploring the relationship between communication processes and problems related to human health and safety. Theoretically, she seeks to identify critical interactive features to improve communication and reduce harm in a diversity of contexts including a public health campaign for motorcycle safety, aviation organizations, HIV testing, and patient/health care provider confidentiality. Ultimately, Dr. Mattson is committed to developing connections between theory and practice in order to improve the efficacy and quality of health communication messages. Her advocacy experience includes working with the Indiana Amputee Insurance Protection Coalition to pass a law in Indiana that provides parity across health insurance plans for coverage of prosthetic devices. She also is a member of the Amputee Coalition of America’s Advisory Committee. Dr. Mattson’s research has been published in journals including Communication Monographs, Journal of Health Communication, Health Communication, Health Promotion Practice, and the Journal of Applied Communication Research.
 

Representative Publications

Health Communication Theory, Models, and Methods

• Mattson, M., & Basnyat, I.  (2008).  A harm reduction approach to communication during HIV test counseling.  T. Edgar, S. Noar, & V. Freimuth (eds.).  Communication perspectives for HIV/AIDS in the 21st century.  New York:  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Dutta-Bergman, M. & Mattson, M. (2006).  Decomplexifying communication strategies in response to bioterrorism: Toward a synergistic crisis communication model.  S. Amass (Ed.).  Purdue University homeland security institute book series, Vol. 1. (pp. 11-36). West Lafayette, IN:  Purdue University Press.
• Mattson, M., & Stage, C. (2003). Contextualized conversation: Interviewing exemplars. In R.P. Clair (Ed.), Expressions of Ethnography: Novel approaches to qualitative methods. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
• Babrow, A., & Mattson, M. (2003). Theorizing about health communication. In T. Thompson, A. Dorsey, K.I. Miller & R. Parrot (Eds.), Handbook of Health Communication. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Health Care Organizations-patient privacy/confidentiality/ethical dilemmas

• Brann, M. & Mattson, M. (2004). Toward a typology of confidentiality breaches in health care communication: An ethic of care analysis of provider practices and patient perceptions. Health Communication, 16, 231-251.
• Mattson, M. & Brann, M. (2002). Managed care and the paradox of patient confidentiality: A case study analysis from a Communication Boundary Management perspective. Communication Studies, 53, 337-357.
• Brann, M. & Mattson, M. (2004). Reframing communication during gynecological exams: A feminist virtue ethics of care perspective. Gendered approaches to applied communication. P. Buzzanell, H. Sterk & L. Turner (Eds.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Aviation Industry-occupational safety

Funded in part by grants from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and United Technologies, the following publications were generated through an ongoing collaborative research effort between the departments of Communication and Aviation Technology which includes professors, graduate students, and undergraduates interacting with industry.

• Armentrout-Brazee, C., & Mattson, M. (2004). Clash of subcultures in on-gate communication. In M.A. Turney (Ed.), Tapping diverse talent in aviation: Culture, gender, and diversity. Hampshire, UK: Ashgate.
• Mattson, M., Petrin, D.A., Young, J. P. (2001). Integrating safety in the aviation system: Interdepartmental training for pilots and maintenance technicians. Journal of Air Transportation World Wide, 6, 37-64.

Public Health Campaigns-needs assessment, design, implementation, and evaluation

While on a year-long fellowship funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Mattson was involved in projects that resulted in the following publications.

• Mattson, M. & Basu, A.  (in press).  CDC’s DES Update: A Case for Effective Operationalization of Messaging in Social Marketing Practice.  Health Promotion Practice.
• Lindegren, M L., Kobrynski, L., Rasmussen, S. A., Moore, C. A., Grosse, S. D., Vanderford, M. L., Spira, T. J., McDougal, J. S., Vogt, R. F., Hannon, W. H., Kalman, L. V., Chen, B., Mattson, M., Baker, T. G., Khoury, M. (2004). Applying public health strategies to primary immunodeficiency diseases: A potential approach to genetic disorders. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, 53, 1-29.

Motorcycle Safety at Purdue is a comprehensive, team oriented, funded social marketing campaign which incorporates research, teaching, and community engagement.  To date, the following article has been published and there are several other manuscripts either under review or in preparation.

• Kosmoski, C., Mattson, M., & Hall, J.  (2007).  Reconsidering motorcycle safety at Purdue:  A case study integrating campaign theory and practice.  Cases in Public Health Communication & Marketing.  Available from http://www.casesjournal.org.