Last week marked 50 years of Murrow Symposium excellence, making this year’s event all the more special! On the second day of the festivities, MAC Lab members presented their research to Symposium attendees at the Interactive Research & Student Showcase Expo. Team members discussed MAC Lab projects and student-led studies alike among fellow Murrow College faculty, students, and staff. Thanks to everyone who took part in the Showcase Expo, both as contributors to research and as MAC Lab representatives at the event!

Above: MAC Lab members (from left to right) CJ Janssen, Folake Okor, MAC Lab Co-Director Jessica Willoughby, Ph.D., Opeyemi Johnson, Sandy Munoz, and Joy Wanja Muraya

The MAC Lab was represented with flying colors at the WSU 2026 Academic Showcase, as four members of our team presented research at the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) Research Exposition. Congratulations to everyone who presented! We are so lucky to have such wonderful people on our team. Take a look at the photos (provided by Anika Ausness-Ayers) below to learn more about our team’s work!

Opeyemi Johnson presented findings from a survey of campus health educators (CHEs) regarding pressing issues in the realms of college students’ health, prevention programming, training, and intervention implementation.

Folake Okor and her poster highlighted findings of a mixed-methods study examining college students’ awareness of cannabis use disorder (CUD) related to a digital cannabis harm-reduction intervention.

Joy Muraya’s poster presentation provided an overview of an international online survey of adolescents from the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Participants provided their experiences with and perceptions on sharing contraceptive access content on social media.

Anika Ausness-Ayers presented research led by fellow MAC Lab member, Kimberly Klein. This qualitative thematic analysis examined young adults’ (ages 21-25) experiences and perspectives on using cannabis prior to sexual intimacy, with particular focus on sexual consent.

With co-directors Dr. Stacey Hust and Dr. Jessica Willoughby at the helm of the MAC Lab team’s efforts, two studies have recently been published in academic journals! Both studies draw upon data regarding teens’ and young adults’ perceptions of edible cannabis product packaging elements. Take a look below for a round-up of these publications, including press coverage of this important health communication research:

• The Journal of Health Communication published a qualitative study led by Dr. Hust, which analyzed 28 Washington teens’ (ages 13 – 17) thoughts and perceptions on the designs of cannabis-infused edible product packaging. Notable findings indicate that teens find such packaging to be appealing due to the presence of bright colors, fun imagery, and lifestyles (such as being vegan, for example) that appeared to be promoted by the packaging. Interestingly, teens who had both pre-existing knowledge of cannabis and were literate in cannabis product information expressed skepticism towards such packaging.
  • The results of this work indicate the need for policymakers and health educators alike to consider the perspectives of teenagers in regulatory processes regarding cannabis products.
  • To learn more about this study and to read statements regarding the findings of the project from Dr. Hust and Dr. Willoughby, take a look at this press release from the WSU Insider!
• Most recently, a study led by Dr. Willoughby was published by the Drug and Alcohol Review. Qualitative focus groups were conducted with teens across Washington state to learn more about how they perceive warning labels on cannabis edible packaging.
  • The team found that teens may not find cannabis edible warning labels to be particularly relevant to them, feeling that such information pertains more to younger children. Additionally, teens feel that packaging designs often hide warning labels; bearing this in mind, though, participants expressed that they often pay no attention to any labels on edible product packaging whatsoever, including nutrition labels and serving size recommendations on food and drink packaging that do not contain cannabis.
  • The results of this study demonstrate that teens might overlook warning labels on cannabis edibles packaging either a) intentionally, as they don’t feel the labels apply to them, or b) unintentionally, because they may be unfamiliar with cannabis products and how labels provide important information about servings and potency.

• It’s important to start the conversation about cannabis early, both in discussions with teens and also in normalizing discussions about cannabis in the home with other parents to avoid accidental use by kids who might be away from direct parent supervision.
• Talking about cannabis with teens can be daunting, but the possible ramifications of not talking outweigh the awkwardness.
• One way to bring up tough conversations is to use media—find a show or clip they may have seen that relates, then use that as a prompt to discuss. What do they think of the media clip? Let that transition into discussions of their own attitudes, opinions, and feelings.
• Do your best to be informed. Teens can push back if they feel you are just “telling” them information. Instead, know what you can, have a conversation with them about it, and be open to learning more if there are things you don’t know and/or haven’t heard of. A lot is constantly changing in the legal adult-use cannabis landscape.

Dr. Jessica Willoughby presented on research conducted by members of the MAC Lab at the fall WSU Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Program retreat. The presentation, titled “Digital media for prevention: Developing and evaluating health communication interventions,” highlighted work from Murrow faculty related to substance misuse prevention before highlighting one specific MAC Lab team project funded through the ADARP mechanism. The project was a collaboration with members of the WSU College of Nursing.

The project focused on creating an intervention to reduce cannabis use among pregnant women. An article describing the intervention was previously published in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.

Christina Nickerson, a doctoral candidate in the Murrow College of Communication and research assistant in the MAC Lab, was recently awarded the 2024 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Barrow Minority Doctoral Student Scholarship.

The award is designed to aid doctoral students in journalism and mass communication programs to complete their dissertation research and academic studies. As per the award notification, Christina was selected due to her “strong demonstration of scholarly work, progress toward completing her dissertation, and potential to contribute further to the communication theory and methodology field.”

The award is co-sponsored by the Communication Theory and Methodology Division, the Newspaper and Online News Division, the Commission on the Status of Minorities, and the Mass Communication and Society Division.

On Jan. 31, MAC Lab Co-Directors Stacey Hust and Jessica Willoughby presented at the 6th Annual Cannabis Action Conference. Dr. Hust and Dr. Willoughby presented on the results of a state-wide survey of teens and young adults about cannabis product packaging and implications for prevention. The session was titled Examining cannabis edibles packaging: Findings from a survey of Washington State youth.