Dr. Nehama Lewis

  • University of Haifa

Professional Experience

2017– now: Senior Lecturer (tenured), Department of Communication, University of Haifa

2012 – 2016: Lecturer, Department of Communication, University of Haifa

2010 – 2012: Post-Doctoral Researcher, Community-Based Intervention Research Group (C-BIRG),, Florida International University, Miami, U.S.A.

2006 – 2010: Doctoral student, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

Expertise and Research Interests

My area of expertise is Health Communication. My research focuses on the role of engagement with information in the media (mass media and social media) and social networks on psychosocial outcomes and behavior.

In addition, I design and test messages aimed at influencing psychosocial outcomes and health behaviors, applying theory from social psychology.

My research has examined media effects, including social media, and its effects on health. Specifically, I have studied effects of information seeking and scanning from media and interpersonal sources in the context of cancer screening and prevention, as well as nonmedical drug use. I am interested in investigating effects of information relating to sexuality and sexual disorders on individual’s attitudes toward sexuality and sexual health. My research on health communication, and expertise in social psychology, can contribute a unique perspective to this interdisciplinary research on sexual medicine.

Selected Publications

  1. Lewis, N., Martinez, L, & Carmel, O. (2017). Measures of information seeking: A validation study in the context of nonmedical drug use behaviors. Communication Methods and Measures, 11(4), 266-288.
  2. Martinez, L, & Lewis, N. (2016). A mediation model to explain the effects of information seeking from media and interpersonal sources on young adults’ intention to use marijuana. International Journal of Communication, 10, 1-24. 
  3. Lewis, N., Martinez, L. S., Freres, D., Schwartz, J. S., Armstrong, K., Gray, S. W., Fraze, T., Nagler, R., Bourgoin, A., & Hornik, R. C. (2012) Information seeking from media and family and friends increases fruit and vegetable consumption among cancer patients.  Health Communication, 27(4), 380-388.