Exploring Science Communication for Public Engagement in Culturally Diverse Scenarios in the Americas Denisse Helena Vasquez-Guevara University of Cuenca
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University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Latin American Studies ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 5-22-2019 Science for All: Exploring Science Communication for Public Engagement in Culturally Diverse Scenarios in The Americas Denisse Helena Vasquez-Guevara University of Cuenca Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ltam_etds Part of the Health Communication Commons, and the Latin American Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation Vasquez-Guevara, Denisse Helena. "Science for All: Exploring Science Communication for Public Engagement in Culturally Diverse Scenarios in The Americas." (2019). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ltam_etds/48 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Latin American Studies ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Denisse Vásquez-Guevara Candidate Latin American & Iberian Institute Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Dr. David Weiss, chairperson Dr. Judith White Dr. Laura Harjo Dr. Theodore Jojola i SCIENCE FOR ALL: EXPLORING SCIENCE COMMUNICATION IN CULTURALLY DIVERSE SCENARIOS IN THE AMERICAS by DENISSE HELENA VÁSQUEZ-GUEVARA B.A., Social Communication & Advertising, University of Azuay, 2008 M.A., Marketing & Communication, University of Azuay, 2012 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Latin American Studies University of New Mexico Albuquerque, N.M. May 2019 ii DEDICATION To all of the researchers, professors, and students who dedicate their work to the higher purpose of serving others from anonymous spaces. To my parents, Oswaldo and Helena. All your love and support inspired me during the difficult times and made my happiness more meaningful in the good times. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would not have been possible without the support of great mentors, supportive colleagues, and friends. I thank Dr. David Weiss for serving as my advisor and dissertation committee chair. His support, advice, and motivation empowered me not only to achieve my goals but also taught me how to be a great mentor and professor to my students in the future. I also thank Dr. Judith White, for teaching me that being a good scholar and professor is not possible not only through academic duties but also through supporting others to achieve their goals with ethics and compassion. Special thanks to Dr. Laura Harjo, who opened a new universe for me through decolonial epistemologies and participatory action-research methods as a tool not only to create knowledge but to empower communities. I thank Dr. Ted Jojola, who taught me the value of local knowledge in research, and moreover, how my work can have a positive impact because I am a young scholar of color. To my “Nasty Women” of LAII, Alice Donahue, Sabrina Hernandez, Alin Badillo, and Alexandra Villegas, I thank you all. Our days together always will be part of my most loved memories. To all my friends and colleagues in the Department of Communication and Journalism of UNM, Ivana Cvetkovic, Kimm Oostman, and Sumaira Abrar, academia made us colleagues and friends for a lifetime. I also want to acknowledge the support of UNM’s Latin American & Iberian Institute during my doctoral studies and for funding this study through the Ph.D. Fellowship Grant. Finally, I want to acknowledge the help of Dr. Glenda Canaca and Dr. Angélica Ochoa for giving me the opportunity to work with their research projects. iv SCIENCE FOR ALL: EXPLORING SCIENCE COMMUNICATION IN CULTURALLY DIVERSE SCENARIOS IN THE AMERICAS by Denisse Vásquez-Guevara B.A., Social Communication & Advertising, University of Azuay, 2008 M.A., Marketing & Communication, University of Azuay, 2012 Ph.D., Latin American Studies, University of New Mexico, 2019 ABSTRACT Universities in the United States and Ecuador must meet various policy guidelines concerning research and teaching that address the needs of their local communities. In Ecuador, the higher education law requires that universities undertake research and public outreach projects that respond to societal needs. In the United States, Carnegie Research Classifications motivate universities to serve their publics by carrying out community- engaged research. However, evaluations of public outreach projects and community- engaged research have consistently demonstrated that the segments of society that are ostensibly served by these initiatives are not meaningfully engaged in them; members of the public are treated as, and accordingly act as, merely research participants or recipients of free services, not as collaborators or contributors. At the same time, research conducted by science communication scholars, and about the practice of science communication, recommends that science communication scholarship not only should focus on disseminating scientific content to the public but also should explore how to develop sustainable relationships between academia and the broader society. Crucial to these relationships are participation and dialogue. v In line with these goals, this present study applies a combined qualitative and participatory action research approach to the exploration of two case studies of health behavior change programs, one in the United States (Eat Smart to Play Hard, abbreviated as ESPTH) and one in Ecuador (ACTIVITAL). Specifically, this study combines an interdisciplinary research approach through communication (specifically, science communication, health communication, and media theories) and community and regional planning theories and methods (specifically, decolonial theories, planning principles). This study has two research goals: (a) to determine how to develop better strategies for motivating public engagement in such programs and (b) to determine how to improve engagement among the intended target audiences and researchers of such programs through the process of working together to find new options for collaboration. To achieve these goals, this study recruited student collaborators. In the ESTPH case study, the collaborators were teens (ages 13 to 15) who volunteered as health educators for the children (ages 8 to 11) who participated in ESTPH. In the ACTIVITAL case study, the collaborators were former program participants themselves: at the time of the present study, the collaborators ranged in age from 19 to 21; while participating in the actual ACTIVITAL program their ages ranged from 13 to 15. In each case, the students collaborated with the scientists/researchers who were running the program to propose new communication strategies oriented to improve the program’s engagement with future audiences. Building on the findings from the case studies, the present project then provides guidelines for science communication for public engagement in the Americas. As a health communication research project, this study demonstrates how the health behavior vi change models of socio-cognitive theory and social marketing can be applied to complement formative research criteria and to inform the design of effective health communication strategies. As a community and regional planning research project, the present study explores how to construct public engagement through participation for new collaborations among researchers and the public. Finally, unexpected findings of this study are discussed, revealing how the influence of funding agencies can affect science communication initiatives in the Americas. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ................................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ iv ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... xiv LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 Communicating Science to Society: Challenges and Opportunities in the Americas 2 Justification for the Study ........................................................................................... 3 Purposes of Study ..................................................................................................... 10 Goals of Research ..................................................................................................... 11 Overview of Chapters ............................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................... 15 Science Communication: Concepts, Historical Review of the Discipline, Models, and Theoretical Approaches ................................................................................................ 15 Research Movements of Science Communication Studies ....................................... 16 Conceptualizing Science Communication ................................................................ 20 Theoretical