{"id":242896,"date":"2026-04-23T06:29:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/242896\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T06:29:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:29:54","slug":"ischool-doctoral-students-and-faculty-team-explore-ai-use-in-healthcare-at-kchc-news-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/242896\/","title":{"rendered":"iSchool Doctoral Students and Faculty Team Explore AI Use in Healthcare at KCHC \u2013 News & Events"},"content":{"rendered":"

How does artificial intelligence (AI) impact how people take care of their health? On April 2-4, Florida State University (FSU) School of Information (iSchool) Ph.D. candidate Yuanying Pang addressed this question, representing her research team at the Kentucky Conference on Health Communication (KCHC) in Lexington, Kentucky. Their poster presentation, \u201cUnderstanding How People Use Generative AI for Health: Insights from Reddit Posts,\u201d was selected as one of the Top Six posters at the conference and also received Honorable Mention, recognizing the significance of how individuals rely on AI tools to understand health-related information. Pang collaborated with fellow iSchool doctoral students Lovinta Atrinawati and Ruoyu Li, and received guidance from Drs. Mia Lustria and Zhe He.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Pang said, \u201cThe experience was incredibly rewarding, as it allowed me to share our work, receive valuable feedback, and connect with others who are passionate about advancing equitable and trustworthy health technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

KCHC, hosted by the University of Kentucky Department of Communication, has hosted health communication researchers, practitioners, and students for over 30 years, inviting them to share research and disseminate knowledge on a variety of health-related topics, including distinct health communication research agendas, individual health behavior risk reduction, interactive health communication and informatics, and public and private media advocacy.<\/p>\n

Through this year\u2019s theme, \u201cHealth as a Human Right: The Role of Health Communication,\u201d KCHC acted as a significant venue for practitioners and researchers alike to host paper, poster, panel, and workshop sessions with subjects from equitable and dignified access to basic healthcare, to providing ample health communication education and employment opportunities, as well as promoting the value of science in advancing disease treatment and prevention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis theme highlighted that it is not enough to simply develop advanced technologies \u2014 we also need to ensure that people can trust, understand, and effectively use them. I realized that health communication plays a key role in bridging the gap between technological innovation and real-world impact,\u201d said Pang.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Pang\u2019s perspective largely centered on the intersection of health as a human right and her own research, highlighting her eagerness to expand the critical role of health communication technologies and how diverse users interact with them in her future projects. Since her past research focuses on health informatics, AI-driven tool development, and personalized health intervention support, Pang shared fresh insights on accessibility, comprehension, and equity in AI use and health communication. Specifically, she emphasized how integrating health communication findings into health informatics can contribute to technologies that are more user-centered, inclusive, and ethically grounded, supporting vulnerable populations with complex health needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttending KCHC reinforced the idea that developing effective health technologies is not only a technical challenge but also a communication challenge. As a researcher in health informatics, I aim to integrate communication principles into the design and evaluation of generative AI\u2013based health tools, particularly for older adults with multiple chronic conditions,\u201d Pang said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Looking at Pang\u2019s research, she and her team collected large-scale Reddit data to analyze user experiences, perceptions, and concerns when using AI to seek health information to investigate individual AI engagement testimonies. Their discoveries highlight a variety of factors to consider, from benefits such as increased accessibility and personalized support to risks including potential misinformation and tentative trustworthiness.<\/p>\n

\u201cKCHC strengthened my commitment to interdisciplinary research and encouraged me to actively seek collaborations with scholars in health communication as I continue to develop my research program,\u201d Pang said.<\/p>\n

Pang\u2019s presentation drew extensive attention at the conference, inviting scholars across the nation to engage with and discuss AI-driven health communication and its impact on patient health. She stressed how audience engagement and scholastic discussion generated invaluable feedback to further refine their research and sharpen its impact in health communication. Specifically, she shared how KCHC facilitated an incredibly vibrant community of researchers, and it was through her interactions with them that she broadened her understanding of current health communication trends and challenges, inspiring her to continue pursuing research in this field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How does artificial intelligence (AI) impact how people take care of their health? On April 2-4, Florida State…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":{"0":"post-242896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tallahassee","8":"tag-tallahassee","9":"tag-tallahassee-headlines","10":"tag-tallahassee-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}