http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75141 Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:15:47 GMT 2026-04-10T12:15:47Z http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75147 Title: “Let food be thy medicine”: The rhetoric of food-based cancer cures in online spaces Authors: Campbell, Brynne Abstract: When the emotional weight of a cancer diagnosis coalesces with the limitations of mainstream oncology, cancer patients and their families may turn to online spaces, looking for answers and glimmers of hope. Through blogs and online columns, alternative medicine proponents entice this audience away from conventional treatments with the possibility of a cure that is hiding in plain sight: on their plates. Understanding the landscape of online information related to food-based alternative cancer cures can equip clinicians and health communicators with the background to understand dissenting voices and the persuasive techniques that may be compelling to them. This paper presents the results of a qualitative rhetorical thematic analysis of the writings of online food-as-(cancer)-medicine evangelists, revealing promises of empowerment, a natural restoration of order, and control over bodily health, all through the familiar medium of food. Description: This capstone paper was produced for completion of an MA in Food Studies from NYU in 2021. Sat, 01 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75147 2021-05-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75145 Title: The body as misinformation: Examining the role of bodily information in the formation of false health beliefs Authors: Campbell Rice, Brynne Description: These slides were used for the presentation of a short paper by the same name (https://publicera.kb.se/ir/article/view/51928) at the 12th International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science – University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK, 2nd-5th June 2025 Wed, 04 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75145 2025-06-04T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75142 Title: What does the body know? Nursing students’ perspectives and epistemic beliefs about embodied health misinformation Authors: Campbell Rice, Brynne Abstract: Academic health librarians are deeply invested in helping future healthcare professionals develop the information literacy skills necessary to navigate an increasingly fraught information landscape. In that vein, this poster presents initial results from a qualitative study exploring how nursing students contend with a particularly complex form of health misinformation. Specifically, this study investigates nursing students' perceptions and epistemic beliefs related to "embodied health misinformation" - the misinformation that arises in the messy intersection where bodily experiences conflict with biomedical evidence. In investigating how nursing students respond to this type of misinformation, the study aims to reveal how they engage with information outside of traditional scholarly evidence, challenging simplistic binaries in the study of misinformation. In doing so, this study contributes to the scholarly conversation around how health professionals’ information literacy practices can balance epistemic justice with a commitment to evidence-based health care. Objectives: The objective of this research is to explore nursing students' perceptions and evaluation of "embodied health misinformation" - misinformation that is woven into bodily experience, where an individuals’ intimate knowledge of their own body is positioned as more credible than biomedical evidence. Healthcare professionals need well-developed personal epistemologies to navigate these complexities, yet there's limited research into how they perceive this type of information. To fill that gap, this study asks: (1) What are nursing students' perspectives on the body as a source of health information and misinformation? and (2) What are nursing students' epistemic beliefs related to embodied health misinformation? Methods: This study follows a qualitative methodology, employing a series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with nursing students. In order to elucidate their thoughts on how to contend with bodily information when it appears to convey misinformation, participants are asked to respond to two conflicting information sources on the same topic: a personal health narrative that incorporates subjective, affective health experiences, and an evidence-based information source. The audio of the recorded interviews is transcribed and transcripts are coded inductively for emergent themes in the nursing students’ perspectives on bodily information, and deductively for any specific epistemic beliefs they reveal in their responses. Results: Preliminary results following the analysis of 6 interviews with undergraduate nursing students reveal key initial themes and topics that include: triangulation of bodily information with external sources of information; the practice of bodily listening; issues of individual vs. generalized health claims; and considerations of time and risk in evaluating health information. Conclusions: This project is ongoing, but it is anticipated that the results will contribute to broader conversations about the development of sensitive information evaluation practices among students who are entering health professions. Specifically, understanding nursing students’ perceptions and beliefs around embodied information can inform how librarians help prepare health professionals to contend with the full complexity of the health misinformation that they will encounter, as both information consumers and eventually, trusted sources of health information themselves. Description: Poster presented at the 2025 Medical Library Association Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA Thu, 01 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2451/75142 2025-05-01T00:00:00Z