dr. Nadine Bol

  • Foto1_cutFaculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
    CW : Persuasive Communication
  • Nieuwe Achtergracht  166
    1018 WV  Amsterdam
  • N.Bol@uva.nl

Name: Nadine Bol
PhD: 2015, University of Amsterdam
Dissertation: How to present online information to older cancer patients
Msc: 2011, University of Amsterdam
Interests: The role of online technologies in health communication and how online health information should be presented (e.g., the role of illustrations and videos). Furthermore, I am interested in how online technologies are personalized to the individual patient (e.g., based on the patient’s behavior, preferences or needs), and how this effects health outcomes.

Link: UvA profile or LinkedIn

Research: In my PhD project (“OCA-I: Effective ways of presenting online information to older cancer patients”), I focused on how to use illustrations and videos in online cancer information to enhance website satisfaction and recall of information in older cancer patients. Currently, I work as a postdoctoral researcher continuing this line of research focusing on how and when online technologies are effective by examining novel ways of personalizing information to improve and optimize health outcomes for a wide variety of individuals.

Projects: Below is a list of research projects I am (or was) involved in:

Personalized communication (focus on Health)

This research program focuses on researching the uses and implications of personalized information and communication for individuals, society, and information law & policy. One of the specific areas of this program is personalized health communication. Personalized, tailored, and patient-centered health services offer opportunities to improve people’s well-being. A particular area of interest will be the increasing role of Mobile Health (“m-health”). Our goal here is to understand how and why people use m-health, and what influences perceptions and use of m-health technologies. For instance, are those that are more privacy concerned also less willing to use health apps for monitoring their health? Or do these perceptions not specifically lead to the choice of not installing or even uninstalling health apps? At the same time: should health app users be concerned about the fact that increasingly more health data is becoming available through quantified self-applications? Is the law equipped to deal with new players that collect health data through such quantified self-applications? When do the welfare gains of personalized health services outweigh the risks involved?

Moreover, we aim to test the effects of personalized health communication. A central question to this aim is: how can this vast amount of quantified self-tracking data be used to ‘nudge’ the user into more healthy behavior? Can personalized health communication enhance healthy behavior? And, are some groups affected more by such personalized communication strategies than others, and if so, what determines the effectiveness? At the same time: what would be the ethical and normative implication of ‘nudging’ the user?

  • PIs: Prof. dr. Claes de Vreese and Prof. dr. Natali Helberger
  • See also: click here
  • Status: Ongoing since September 2015

Developing effective offline and online tailored communication advice for older cancer patients and their healthcare providers (OCA-5, Dutch Cancer Society grant)

Currently, 60% of Dutch patients newly diagnosed with cancer are 65 years or older and this number is rapidly increasing. Due to age-related problems, these patients are most at risk for poor communication with providers. To increase the likelihood that older patients experience less distress and process information optimally, it is critical to provide information in a variety of ways. Medical information is expected to be better processed when mediated sources (e.g., the Internet) are combined with interpersonal patient-provider interaction. In this project, both offline (i.e., patient-provider communication) and online (i.e., the Internet) communication are addressed to provide tailored information to older cancer patients. For offline communication, we will develop tailored communication advices for healthcare providers. These tailored advices are based on the patients’ information needs and preferences, and help the healthcare provider to understand the information needs of that particular patient and to tailor the communication accordingly. For online communication, patients’ information needs and preferences will be used to tailored online information presentation to patients’ visual or mode preferences.

The research project will be conducted in collaboration with oncologists, geriatricians, nurses, and patient associations. The results of this project will be suitable for immediate practical application. The project aims to gather more knowledge on effective communication with older cancer patients, and directly apply this knowledge to practice, with the final aim to optimize cancer communication for older adults.

  • PIs: Prof. dr. Julia van Weert and Prof. dr. Ellen Smets
  • Other researchers: Dr. Nadine Bol and Dr. Annemiek Linn
  • Status:Oongoing since March 2015

Effective ways of presenting online information to older cancer patients (OCA-1, PhD project)

Providing information to patients is crucial within cancer care. As the Internet is becoming an increasingly valuable source of information, it is important to consider the rapidly aging population when designing online cancer materials. Yet, the lack of studies and inconsistent findings on how to optimally present online information to older populations call for theory- and evidence-based research. By combining theories from communication science, cognitive aging, and educational psychology, this project aimed to provide insight into (1) the effects of illustrations and videos on older adults’ website satisfaction and recall of online cancer information, (2) the underlying processes explaining those relationships, and (3) the role of age and age-related factors. In total, 973 healthy adults and 540 (ex-)cancer patients participated in six studies using experiments as well as survey and eye-tracking methodology. The results revealed that being more emotionally satisfied with the website led to greater recall of information for older adults, but not for younger ones. Both illustrations and videos enhanced website satisfaction and recall of information. In particular, conversational-styled videos in which an older, likable narrator tells a compelling story, were effective for older adults. Next to satisfaction with the emotional support, older cancer patients’ recall was influenced by other message experience characteristics (e.g., perceived cognitive load) and individual characteristics (e.g., health literacy, frailty), but not by chronological age. The studies conducted in this project deepen our understanding of how to present online cancer materials in such a way that older patients can effectively process online cancer information.

  • PhD student: Nadine Bol
  • Promotor(s): Prof. dr. Julia van Weert and Prof. dr. Hanneke de Haes
  • Co-promotor(s): Prof. dr. Eugène Loos and Prof. dr. Ellen Smets
  • Status: Finished