Background: Communication is important, especially in cancer care. Good communication can positively influence patient outcomes, whereas poor communication can cause harm. Due to COVID- 19 physical...Show moreBackground: Communication is important, especially in cancer care. Good communication can positively influence patient outcomes, whereas poor communication can cause harm. Due to COVID- 19 physical contact decreased leading to remote communication. In addition, general health care was downscaled, resulting in patients potentially receiving limited information about (treatment) changes. Currently, we do not know whether these changes are considered harmful and whether that depends on certain characteristics. Objective: This study aims to determine to which extent communication themes and communication situations within these two themes, are deemed harmful and by whom during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the relationship between patients’ age, gender, education and information need, and the changed communication (remote consultations and limited information about (treatment) changes) and specific communication situations. Methods: An online survey study was conducted based on a scoping review and input from researchers, clinicians, and patient representatives. Participants were eligible if they were 18 years or older, had advanced (incurable) cancer and had sufficient command of the Dutch language. Participants were presented with six potentially harmful communication situations (grouped under the themes remote consultations and limited information about (treatment) changes) which they assessed as harmful or not (yes/no). The background characteristics were dichotomised, and the relationships were measured using (logistic) regression analyses. Results: The sample existed of 47 participants, aged between 44-81. Most participants (57%–87%) perceived the communication situations as harmful. The relationships between age, gender, education, and information need and remote consultations, limited information about (treatment) changes and specific communication situations were all non-significant (p > .01). The relationship between education and not checking if the discussed information is remembered was marginally significant, c2(1, N = 46) = 6.21, p = .013 and recorded an odds ratio of 7.29 (95% CI: 1.31 – 40.54). Conclusions: As we suspect telehealth to increase, we suggest creating specific guidelines for remote contact using harmful communication examples and helpful alternatives. Furthermore, we advise physicians to provide explanations about treatment changes and as to why patients are not (or less) involved in decision-making when information provision is limited. Larger and more representative research is needed to replicate and substantiate our findings.Show less
Social media holds promise for museums to enhance visitor participation, engagement with potential visitors via participatory communication and in building an online community to which to refer to....Show moreSocial media holds promise for museums to enhance visitor participation, engagement with potential visitors via participatory communication and in building an online community to which to refer to. However, the integration of social media within museums practices, particularly in Italy, has been a rather cautious transition as museums are concerned with the ways social media may deteriorate traditional organizational forms of authority that cultural institutions have held. The aim of the present paper is to investigate the extent to which Italian museums can use social media to engage with a younger audience. In doing so, this study has conducted a case study analysis of Musei Civici Veneziani, by interviewing the web-content manager of the institution. Findings demonstrate that Musei Civici Veneziani continues to use a one-to-one communication model, whereby social media platforms are used solely to inform users about practical matters. The use of a one-to-one communication model, rather than a many-to-many one by Musei Civici Veneziani is due to fear of jeopardizing their role as a cultural authority. However, the present paper aims to showcase the opportunities of adopting a peer-to-peer participatory communication model as a way to effectively engage with younger audiences which allows them to become active members within the museum.Show less
Research master thesis | Arts and Culture (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis analyzes the rhetoric of the Van Gogh Museum and exposes its communicative strategies holistically. An extensive and multi-faceted analysis on the persuasive character of the Rietveld...Show moreThis thesis analyzes the rhetoric of the Van Gogh Museum and exposes its communicative strategies holistically. An extensive and multi-faceted analysis on the persuasive character of the Rietveld building, the Kurokawa wing, and modern media shows that the communicative strength of the Van Gogh Museum is situated in its awareness of different audiences, their varying needs, and plural museum experiences. In a museum landscape where collection-oriented purposes are increasingly shared with public-oriented functions, the only way through which the museum is able to exert and preserve its expertise is by catering to its audiences. Revealing the rhetorical strategies behind the VGM’s communication results in an awareness that the postmodern museum is capable of transforming its commercial activities into valuable dialogues, in which the visitor is treated as an equal, active, and indispensable participant. Commercial museological practices do not threaten the educative value of the museum but carry the potential to actively encourage inclusivity and accessibility. The VGM emits this message in all of its inherently communicative elements.Show less
Based on a corpus of intelligence documents in the archives of the Dutch West India Company, this study looks at the spread and impact of rumors during the revolt in Dutch Brazil in 1645 and the...Show moreBased on a corpus of intelligence documents in the archives of the Dutch West India Company, this study looks at the spread and impact of rumors during the revolt in Dutch Brazil in 1645 and the following nine years of war. This study traces the problems colonial administrators, soldiers, settlers and slaves faced in making grave decisions based on imperfect and potentially false information. The rumor-laden nature of Pernambuco's oral communication sphere, this thesis argues, contributed decisively to the outbreak of the revolt in 1645 and continued to have an impact on the course of the war, most notably in inciting people to switch sides.Show less
This thesis investigates the ongoing debate about the role of translation in second language learning. In the past, scholars and teachers alike assumed that translation caused interference and...Show moreThis thesis investigates the ongoing debate about the role of translation in second language learning. In the past, scholars and teachers alike assumed that translation caused interference and therefore halted a learner’s progress in learning a second or foreign language. More recent research, however, has attempted to counter common conceptions regarding translation’s ineffectiveness as a language-learning and language-teaching tool. My thesis provides an overview of past and current language acquisition theories and teaching methods, and explains why most of these theories and methods are considered to be flawed. The recently developed task-based teaching method aims to address these flaws, and calls for task-based language exercises, including task-based translation exercises. In a pilot study I investigated the value of task-based translation exercises when Dutch secondary school students are learning grammatical aspect (i.e. the present perfect) in English. Overall, the study showed that using task-based translation exercises enhances the use and understanding of grammatical aspect (i.e. the present perfect), although there appeared to be a discrepancy between HAVO and VWO participants.Show less
Het Romeinse rijk kenmerkte zich door een groot territorium dat, in theorie, geregeerd werd vanuit een punt: Rome. Hoe manifesteerde deze machtsuitoefening zich in de perifere gebieden zoals...Show moreHet Romeinse rijk kenmerkte zich door een groot territorium dat, in theorie, geregeerd werd vanuit een punt: Rome. Hoe manifesteerde deze machtsuitoefening zich in de perifere gebieden zoals Brittannia en Germania? Uit dit onderzoek blijkt dat de machthebbers in de periferie door middel van verkregen functies en titels, in combinatie met een lastige verbinding met het centrum, over een onafhankelijkheid beschikten waar zij de keizer slechts op de hoogte dienden te houden na afloop van ontwikkelingen. De bestaande infrastructuur en verdeelde hiërarchie leenden zich niet voor de directe invloed van de keizer in deze gebieden.Show less
Internet use by voters and representatives in the United Kingdom is thought to provide a number of democratic benefits such as increased participation, heightened political deliberation and reduced...Show moreInternet use by voters and representatives in the United Kingdom is thought to provide a number of democratic benefits such as increased participation, heightened political deliberation and reduced distance between the political elite and mass. Furthermore, the use of online technologies allows British citizens to communicate faster, easier and more conveniently than ever before with, with social networking sites allowing real-time interaction overcoming geographical and time constraints. There is limited research looking at the use of online communication by Member of Parliaments (MP) in their constituency role, which is surprising as the constituency responsibility of an MP has become of increasing importance in the last 50 years due social and political changes including heightened demands from citizens. Using an original field experiment, this thesis tests which method of communication is the most effective for constituents to use when contacting their local MP, with specific interest in their adoption and use of the social networking site Twitter. The research finds that the majority of MPs have a Twitter account; however theses Members tend to be young, on the left of the political spectrum and reside in marginal constituencies. Members do not appear to be using Twitter to correspond with constituents, although it is the fastest of the tools tested. Email had both the highest response rate and is most likely to provide the constituent with the information they requested, and is therefore the most effective medium for MP-constituent communication.Show less
This thesis looks in to the flow of news reports that came in to the Dutch Republic, or were generated within it, in response to the events constituting to a part of the Thirty' years war. The...Show moreThis thesis looks in to the flow of news reports that came in to the Dutch Republic, or were generated within it, in response to the events constituting to a part of the Thirty' years war. The thesis concentrates on the period between 1618 and 1632. It investigates if anything can be said about the effects of the war on the public debate in the Republic. As sources are used: pamphlets, and the early dutch newspapers of the family van Hilten and Broer Janszoon.Show less
