Health communication
Encyclopedia
Health communication may be defined as
“The art and technique of informing, influencing, and motivating individual, institutional, and public audiences about important health issues. The scope of health communication includes disease prevention, health promotion, health care policy, and the business of health care as well as enhancement of the quality of life and health of individuals within the community” - Healthy People 2010, p. 11-20
“An area of theory, research and practice related to understanding and influencing the interdependence of communication (symbolic interaction in the forms of messages and meanings) and health related beliefs, behaviors and outcomes.” Cline, R. 2003
“Health communication is a multifaceted and multidisciplinary approach to reach different audiences and share health-related information with the goal of influencing, engaging and supporting individuals, communities, health professionals, special groups, policy makers and the public to champion, introduce, adopt, or sustain a behavior, practice or policy that will ultimately improve health outcomes.” Schiavo, R. 2007, p. 7
or the mechanism by which health messages are communicated from experts in the medical and public health fields to the people who can be helped by these messages.
in health care
delivery and health promotion
” (Kreps et al. 1998). Clear communication is essential to successful public health
practice at every level of the ecological model; intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, organizational, and societal. At each level there are a variety of communication channels which must be considered, from face-to-face to mass communications. The social contexts in which health communication occurs are also widely varied and can include (but are not limited to) homes, schools, doctor’s offices, and workplaces. The recent explosion of new Internet
communication technologies (particularly through the development of health websites (such as Medline Plus, Healthfinder, and Web MD), online support groups (such as the Association for Cancer Online Resources), web portals, tailored information systems, telehealth programs, electronic health records, social networking) and mobile devices (cell phones, PDAs, etc.) means that the potential media are ever changing.
1975 – International Communication Association establishes the Therapeutic Communication Interest Group (which later became the “Health Communication” Division)
1979 - The American Academy on Physician and Patient (later renamed the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare) was established to promote research, education, and professional standards in patient-clinician communication.
1985 – National Communication Association forms the Commission for Health Communication, which later became the Health Communication Division
1984 – Health Communication textbooks begin appearing: Kreps & Thornton (1984), Sharf (1984), and Northhouse & Northhouse (1985)
1989 – First peer reviewed journal devoted to health communication, Health Communication. Followed in 1996 by The Journal of Health Communication
1995 – Undergraduate and graduate health communication majors begin to be offered. Tufts University School of Medicine offers the first Master of Science in health communication together with Emerson College
1998 - The Health Communication Working Group of the American Public Health Association was established to examine the role of health communication in public health promotion.
1999 - The National Cancer Institute (National Institutes of Health) establishes the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch (HCIRB) in their Behavioral Research Program, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. The National Cancer Institute identifies health communication as an extraordinay research opportunity for promoting cancer prevention and control.
1999 - The National Cancer Institute establishes the Health Communication Intervention research program, funding seven multi-year research projects to study innovative strategies for communicating cancer information to diverse populations.
1999 - The Journal of Medical Internet Research is established to study health and health care in the Internet age.
2002 - The National Cancer Institute establishes the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) biennial representative national survey of consumer health information seeking, acquisition, and use to evaluate progress in cancer communication and to guide health communication intervetnion.
2003 - The National Cancer Institute announced establishment of four national Centers of Excellent in Cancer Communication Research (CECCRs) providing five year funding for research centers at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, and Saint Louis University. The CECCR program was designed to make major advances in health communication research and application, as well as to train the next generation of health communication scholars.
2004 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) establishes the National Center for Health Marketing (NCHM)for promoting and conducting health marketing and communication research to support national health promotion efforts.
2004 - The Coalition for Health Communication (CHC) is established as an inter-organizational task force whose mission is to strengthen the identity and advance the field of health communication. CHC represents the ICA and NCA Health Communication Divisions and the APHA Health Communication Working Group.
2007 - The first dedicated Ph.D. program in Health and Strategic Communication is offered by the George Mason University Department of Communication.
2008 - The National Cancer Institute announced re-issuing of the national Centers of Excellent in Cancer Communication Research (CECCRs) program. They provided five years of funding for five research centers (at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, Washington University, St. Louis, and Kaiser Permanente, Colorado. The new CECCR program was designed to continue progress in advancing in health communication research and application, as well as to train the next generation of health communication scholars.
2009 - First serious efforts put forth by Home Controls' HealthComm Systems to educate consumers regarding affordable, unobtrusive home technology allowing the aging to remain at home for months or years longer than ever before
2009 - The Society for Participatory Medicine (SPM) is established to promote participatory medicine by and among patients, caregivers and their medical teams and to promote clinical transparency among patients and their physicians through the exchange of information, via conferences, as well through the distribution of correspondence and other written materials. The SPM publishes the Journal of Participatory Medicine.
2009 - The Murrow Center for Media and Health Promotion is established at Washington State University.
, sociology
, psychology
, public health
, or medicine
and then focus within their field on either health or communication. Practitioners are pragmatic and draw from social-scientific scholarship, theories form the humanities, and professional fields such as education, management, law and marketing (Maibach 2008).
“The art and technique of informing, influencing, and motivating individual, institutional, and public audiences about important health issues. The scope of health communication includes disease prevention, health promotion, health care policy, and the business of health care as well as enhancement of the quality of life and health of individuals within the community” - Healthy People 2010, p. 11-20
“An area of theory, research and practice related to understanding and influencing the interdependence of communication (symbolic interaction in the forms of messages and meanings) and health related beliefs, behaviors and outcomes.” Cline, R. 2003
“Health communication is a multifaceted and multidisciplinary approach to reach different audiences and share health-related information with the goal of influencing, engaging and supporting individuals, communities, health professionals, special groups, policy makers and the public to champion, introduce, adopt, or sustain a behavior, practice or policy that will ultimately improve health outcomes.” Schiavo, R. 2007, p. 7
or the mechanism by which health messages are communicated from experts in the medical and public health fields to the people who can be helped by these messages.
Overview
Health communication is concerned with “the powerful roles performed by human and mediated communicationCommunication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
in health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
delivery and health promotion
Health promotion
Health promotion has been defined by the World Health Organization's 2005 Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalized World as "the process of enabling people to increase control over their health and its determinants, and thereby improve their health"...
” (Kreps et al. 1998). Clear communication is essential to successful public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
practice at every level of the ecological model; intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, organizational, and societal. At each level there are a variety of communication channels which must be considered, from face-to-face to mass communications. The social contexts in which health communication occurs are also widely varied and can include (but are not limited to) homes, schools, doctor’s offices, and workplaces. The recent explosion of new Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
communication technologies (particularly through the development of health websites (such as Medline Plus, Healthfinder, and Web MD), online support groups (such as the Association for Cancer Online Resources), web portals, tailored information systems, telehealth programs, electronic health records, social networking) and mobile devices (cell phones, PDAs, etc.) means that the potential media are ever changing.
History
Although health communication is not new, the field has developed as its own entity over the past 30 years or so. Key events include (most taken from (Kreps et al. 1998)):1975 – International Communication Association establishes the Therapeutic Communication Interest Group (which later became the “Health Communication” Division)
1979 - The American Academy on Physician and Patient (later renamed the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare) was established to promote research, education, and professional standards in patient-clinician communication.
1985 – National Communication Association forms the Commission for Health Communication, which later became the Health Communication Division
1984 – Health Communication textbooks begin appearing: Kreps & Thornton (1984), Sharf (1984), and Northhouse & Northhouse (1985)
1989 – First peer reviewed journal devoted to health communication, Health Communication. Followed in 1996 by The Journal of Health Communication
1995 – Undergraduate and graduate health communication majors begin to be offered. Tufts University School of Medicine offers the first Master of Science in health communication together with Emerson College
1998 - The Health Communication Working Group of the American Public Health Association was established to examine the role of health communication in public health promotion.
1999 - The National Cancer Institute (National Institutes of Health) establishes the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch (HCIRB) in their Behavioral Research Program, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. The National Cancer Institute identifies health communication as an extraordinay research opportunity for promoting cancer prevention and control.
1999 - The National Cancer Institute establishes the Health Communication Intervention research program, funding seven multi-year research projects to study innovative strategies for communicating cancer information to diverse populations.
1999 - The Journal of Medical Internet Research is established to study health and health care in the Internet age.
2002 - The National Cancer Institute establishes the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) biennial representative national survey of consumer health information seeking, acquisition, and use to evaluate progress in cancer communication and to guide health communication intervetnion.
2003 - The National Cancer Institute announced establishment of four national Centers of Excellent in Cancer Communication Research (CECCRs) providing five year funding for research centers at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, and Saint Louis University. The CECCR program was designed to make major advances in health communication research and application, as well as to train the next generation of health communication scholars.
2004 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) establishes the National Center for Health Marketing (NCHM)for promoting and conducting health marketing and communication research to support national health promotion efforts.
2004 - The Coalition for Health Communication (CHC) is established as an inter-organizational task force whose mission is to strengthen the identity and advance the field of health communication. CHC represents the ICA and NCA Health Communication Divisions and the APHA Health Communication Working Group.
2007 - The first dedicated Ph.D. program in Health and Strategic Communication is offered by the George Mason University Department of Communication.
2008 - The National Cancer Institute announced re-issuing of the national Centers of Excellent in Cancer Communication Research (CECCRs) program. They provided five years of funding for five research centers (at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, Washington University, St. Louis, and Kaiser Permanente, Colorado. The new CECCR program was designed to continue progress in advancing in health communication research and application, as well as to train the next generation of health communication scholars.
2009 - First serious efforts put forth by Home Controls' HealthComm Systems to educate consumers regarding affordable, unobtrusive home technology allowing the aging to remain at home for months or years longer than ever before
2009 - The Society for Participatory Medicine (SPM) is established to promote participatory medicine by and among patients, caregivers and their medical teams and to promote clinical transparency among patients and their physicians through the exchange of information, via conferences, as well through the distribution of correspondence and other written materials. The SPM publishes the Journal of Participatory Medicine.
2009 - The Murrow Center for Media and Health Promotion is established at Washington State University.
Disciplines
Scholars and practitioners in health communication are often trained in disciplines such as communication studiesCommunication studies
Communication Studies is an academic field that deals with processes of communication, commonly defined as the sharing of symbols over distances in space and time. Hence, communication studies encompasses a wide range of topics and contexts ranging from face-to-face conversation to speeches to mass...
, sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
, or medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and then focus within their field on either health or communication. Practitioners are pragmatic and draw from social-scientific scholarship, theories form the humanities, and professional fields such as education, management, law and marketing (Maibach 2008).
See also
- Community healthCommunity healthCommunity health, a field of public health, is a discipline that concerns itself with the study and betterment of the health characteristics of biological communities. While the term community can be broadly defined, community health tends to focus on geographic areas rather than people with shared...
, health promotionHealth promotionHealth promotion has been defined by the World Health Organization's 2005 Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalized World as "the process of enabling people to increase control over their health and its determinants, and thereby improve their health"...
, health literacyHealth literacyHealth literacy is an individual's ability to read, understand and use healthcare information to make decisions and follow instructions for treatment...
, social marketingSocial marketingSocial marketing is the systematic application of marketing, along with other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good. Social marketing can be applied to promote merit goods, or to make a society avoid demerit goods and thus to promote society's well being as...
, communicationCommunicationCommunication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
, advocacyAdvocacyAdvocacy is a political process by an individual or a large group which normally aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an...
External links
- International Communication Association, Health Communication Section
- Coalition for Health Communication
- American Public Health Association Health Communication Working Group
- Health Communication Partnership
- Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Health Communication Activities
- Graduate Program in Health Communication, Tufts University School of Medicine
- Health Communication
- Journal of Health Communication