Summer Research Series: Breaking a Cycle of Misinformation

This summer, Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Dr. Caitlin Lawson’s research goes beyond just exploring unanswered questions about gender, hormones, contraception and health – it’s about shedding light on misinformation that she believes is “flying under the radar.”

Entitled “Populist Women’s Health Information, Femtech Apps and Surveillance Capitalism,” Dr. Lawson’s research examines ‘cycle-syncing’ – a popular social media trend that encourages women to revolve their lives and decision-making around how they track their menstrual cycle.

Dr. Lawson, with the help of her student researcher, Writing Editing & Publishing major Siobhan Walsh ’27, is approaching the trend by focusing on two pieces of media: a conservative women’s magazine, Evie, and its sister product, a cycle-tracking and fitness app called 28.co.

From her studies on the subject so far, Dr. Lawson has a strong understanding about how those primary sources, as well as social media and online discourse in general, have led to the trend’s popularity and prevalence. What surprised her even more was how frequently her students are seeing it pop up in their media consumption.

“It’s been really eye-opening for me to see how pervasive this is amongst my students, and so I think this research is really important to get out there and let people know this [trend] isn’t very evidence-based at all,” she said.

Now in the interviewing and information-gathering stage, Dr. Lawson is interviewing Christian women, a key target audience of these forms of media, to better understand their existing beliefs and how online discourse influences them. Simultaneously, she is observing how both Evie and 28.co play a role in reshaping populist narratives about womanhood.

“What comes with the concept of hormone tracking and women building their lives around this is fearmongering around birth control – and the inability to cycle-sync while being on birth control – leading to a lot of pronatalist discourse,” Dr. Lawson said.

Collaborating on the Interview Stage

Assisting Dr. Lawson with absorbing interview responses as well as a variety of primary sources, Walsh has been tapping into her own skillset as a Writing, Editing & Publishing major while gaining exposure to scholarly research and media studies.

Coming later this summer, Walsh will be working on a literature review of scholarly work relevant to Evie, an opportunity to closely critique a published piece of literature and see reviews of her own work from other professionals in the field.

“She’ll be digging deep into her major from both sides,” Dr. Lawson said, “both analysis and production.”

Walsh has loved to be a sponge and absorb as much information as she can while she reads and reviews articles on health misinformation, developing a keen eye for details that can tie back to the research.

“Seeing all these sources, it’s almost scary how easily misinformation is distributed,” she said. “It’s made me a lot more aware of the content I’m consuming.”

Research wasn’t something she’d always had her eye on, but after taking Dr. Lawson’s research methods course, she got a taste for the process and realized it’s something she’d want to pursue further. When the opportunity arose for Walsh to join in on Dr. Lawson’s work – it was a no brainer.

“Taking the course gave me the confidence I needed to apply, and it’s been great with lots of one-to-one collaboration. There’s a ton of room for me to share my own insights and what I’m seeing in my own circles,” Walsh said.

Dr. Lawson’s research is part of a $7,500 CURATE grant she received from the University of Kentucky in 2025, and she is working with co-investigators Meghan Dowell from the University of Kentucky and Yvonne Eadon from the University of Glasgow.

Dr. Lawson is presenting her work at the Association of Internet Researchers conference in October.