RUNNING HEAD: ASSESSING MENTAL HEALTH IN THE MEDIA THROUGH A 1

RHETORICAL LENS

Assessing Mental Health in the Media Through a Rhetorical Lens

Yelifer Al-Abdala

University of Central Florida

Assessing Mental Health in the Media Through a Rhetorical Lens 2

Rhetoric, as defined by Downs (2019), is “a set of principles that explain and predict how

people make meaning and interact” (p. 460), which in other words, is how we communicate

certain ideas or messages with other individuals. Genres, like rhetoric, help make meaning within

writing and can be defined as patterns frequently used within a specific discourse community.

The discourse community of mental health awareness is one that heavily relies on both of these

concepts as its primary framework.

The topic of mental health advocacy has always been one of utter importance, and it has

skyrocketed with the growth of social media which has motivated numerous campaigns and

programs to develop. Immediately, this was an area I wanted to research due to its applicability.

How exactly do these campaigns use rhetoric, genres, or even writing as a tool?

When researching the discourse community of mental health, I pondered how I could

connect this topic to the University of Central Florida. Here at UCF, there exists a program

named “UCF Cares” whose goal is to develop a caring community on campus by promoting

positive mental health. This program is exceedingly popular around campus as they have

multiple platforms to spread their messages on. Bathroom stalls are brimming with their posters,

shuttle buses display their slogans, and their social media sites post almost regularly. This

community is one of particular interest to me because as a student at UCF, I believe this

organization is one of utmost importance.

The majority of my sources shared one particular ideology in common: social media is a

beneficial and successful way to increase mental health awareness. While Ma, Monks, and

Pawluk, the authors of my secondary sources, all agree on this ideology, none of them analyzed

its effectiveness. This is an important gap to research because it can aid in identifying successful

tools and genres within my discourse community which could be adopted by other campaigns.
Assessing Mental Health in the Media Through a Rhetorical Lens 3

Currently, my overarching research question is: How is mental health advocacy portrayed

in the media? However, I realize this question is too broad and would be impossible to research

in a one semester course. For that reason, a more focused research question I have developed is:

How do mental health campaigns, specifically UCF Cares, effectively utilyze typified rhetoric in

the media?

I will utilize two distinct methods to collect my primary research. As described by Davis

(2019) in EasyWriter, a multimodal textual analysis is one that analyzes the features of digital

publications and how they deliver their intended message. This will be the first step in my

primary research process, as the information I gather will set the foundation for my project. I will

be analyzing the UCF Cares website and observing the layout, established genres, and popular

resources present within the website. Aside from the website, I will dissect three other social

media platforms the program uses: Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Since these three

platforms are somewhat alike, I will try to focus on one specific aspect from each. I will identify

the most popular posts from the Instagram page and hypothesize why they are more successful

than the rest. From the Facebook page, I will focus on the posters or advertisements that are

published and analyze them rhetorically. Lastly, I will inspect the campaigns tweets and look for

possible patterns, or genres, in the typified rhetoric they use. Once I have concluded this first

step in my primary research, I will conduct a survey of roughly 40 students at the University of

Central Florida to collect data as to how effective the UCF Cares program is to them personally.

I will create the survey with the help of Google Forms, an online survey generator which will

keep responses anonymous. The survey will consist of six questions, which will be listed in the

last page of this proposal, all relating to the UCF Cares program and their social media

platforms. Once I have collected the number of desired responses, I will compare the data to the
Assessing Mental Health in the Media Through a Rhetorical Lens 4

social media websites (such as the number of followers, likes, and engagement), to determine if

the resources are truly being used by UCF students. Both of these primary research methods will

aid immensely in determining the effect writing and rhetoric has on my chosen discourse

community, as well as how beneficial these tools are.

Timeline

Task Date of Completion

Discuss survey questions with Professor October 7 (During

Mooney Conference)

Create and send out survey October 8

Analyze UCF Cares website October 10

Analyze UCF Cares Instagram October 12

Analyze UCF Cares Facebook October 14

Analyze UCF Cares Twitter October 16

Collect final responses from survey October 20

Analyze survey responses October 23-24

Assessing Mental Health in the Media Through a Rhetorical Lens 5

Survey Questions
1. What type of student are you currently?
○ Freshman
○ Sophomore
○ Junior
○ Senior

2. Are you familiar with the program “UCF Cares” here at the University of Central
Florida?
○ Yes
○ No
○ I have heard of it but I am not sure what it is about.

3. How frequently do you visit the UCF Cares website?

○ Never
○ Sometimes
○ Often
○ Daily

4. Have you ever utilized any of their student resources, such as “Let's Be Clear”, “Safe-
Zone”, or “Green Dot”?
○ Yes, I have utilized one of these resources
○ Yes, I have utilized more than one of these resources.
○ No, I have never utilized these resources.
○ I have heard of these, but I have never used them.

5. Do you follow UCF Cares on any of their social media sites?

○ Yes
○ No

6. Which social media site do you follow them on?

○ Instagram
○ Twitter
○ Facebook
○ I follow more than one of these.
○ I follow none of these.
Assessing Mental Health in the Media Through a Rhetorical Lens 6

References

Beck, L., & Wright, A. (2019). iGen: What You Should Know about Post-Millennial Students.

College and University, 94(1), 21–22. Retrieved from www.aacrao.org/research-

publications/quarterly-journals/college-university-journal/issue/c-u-vol.-94-no.-1-winter-

2019

Downs, D., & Wardle, E. (2019). Rhetoric: Making Sense of Human Interaction and Meaning-

Making. Writing About Writing. Boston, MA: Bedford, St. Martins.

Downs, M. F., & Eisenberg, D. (2012). Help Seeking and Treatment Use among Suicidal

College Students. Journal of American College Health, 60(2), 104–114. Retrieved from

dx.doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2011.619611

Lunsford, A. (2019). EasyWriter. Plymouth, MI: Bedford, St. Martins.

Ma, Z. (2017). How the Media Cover Mental Illnesses: A Review. Health Education, 117(1),

90–109. Retrieved from doi.org/10.1108/HE-01-2016-0004

McLouglin, L., Spears, B., & Taddeo, C. (2018). The Importance of Social Connection for

Cybervictims: How Connectedness and Technology Could Promote Mental Health and

Wellbeing in Young People. International Journal of Emotional Education, 10(1), 5–24.

DOI: 10.1080/87568225.2017.1296341

Monks, H., Cardoso, P., Papageorgiou, A., Carolan, C., Costello, L., & Thomas, L. (2015).

Young People’s Views Regarding Participation in Mental Health and Wellbeing

Research through Social Media. International Journal of Emotional Education, 7(1), 4–

19. Retrieved from www.um.edu.mt/cres/ijee

Assessing Mental Health in the Media Through a Rhetorical Lens 7

Pawluk, S. A., & Zolezzi, M. (2017). Healthcare Professionals’ Perspectives on a Mental Health

Educational Campaign for the Public. Health Education Journal, 76(4), 479–491.

Retrieved from dx.doi.org/10.1177/0017896917696121