Health Communication

Communicating Women's Health by Annette Madlock Gatison (Editor) This volume explores the conditions under which women are empowered, and feel entitled, to make the health decisions that are best for them. At its core, it illuminates how the most basic element of communication, voice, has been summarily suppressed for entire groups of women when it comes to control of their own sexuality, reproductive lives, and health. By giving voice to these women's experiences, the book shines a light on ways to improve health communication for women. Bringing together personal narratives, key theory and literature, and original qualitative and quantitative studies, the book provides an in-depth comparative picture of how and why women's health varies for distinct groups of women. Organized into four parts--historical influences on patient and provider perceptions, breast cancer the silence and the shame, make it taboo: mothering, reproduction, and womanhood, and sex, sexuality, relational health, and womanhood--each section is introduced with a brief synthesis and discussion of the key questions addressed across the chapters.

Essentials of Public Health Communication by Sarah A. Parvanta; Richard N. Harner; David E. Nelson; Claudia Parvanta The field of communications is increasingly recognized as a powerful tool in addressing the world's most imperative public health challenges. Effective communication in health campaigns can inform, empower, or persuade individuals to adopt healthier lifestyles as well as foster public debate and policy change.Featuring a full chapter on informatics, this book is devoted to the competencies in health communication and informatics recommended by the Association of Schools of Public Health. With chapter contributions from some of the leading experts in public health informatics and epidemiology, health communication and evaluation, Essentials of Public Health Communications introduces concepts and examples that will prepare students to enter a local health department, community organization or government agency, and contribute to health communication research, patient counseling, materials design, program management and media relations. Written specifically for student use, this book presumes no prior knowledge of the health communication or the informatics fields. Concepts are presented in clear, jargon free language, with terms defined throughout.Key Features:* Rather than simply presenting theories and cases, this text emphasizes the framework and methods, breaking down complex tasks into steps for mastery. * Simplifies key concepts in public health informatics, and how data are transformed into useful information and effective presentations. * Examines how health communication is actively being used by the leading public health agencies and organizations today. * A companion website provides a complete package of instructor resources including sample syllabi and curriculum guides for two semesters of instruction, as well as small scale research projects. * Includes suggested health communication projects that can be implemented at an academic institution, or small scale community level, to enable hands-on learning. Looking for more real-life evidence? Check out Cases 1, 5, 6, 10, 15, 16, & 18-21 in Essential Case Studies in Public Health, Putting Public Health into Practice.

Health Communication by Richard K. Thomas Designed as a textbook for classroom use Glossary and bibliograpy will be useful pedagogy

Health Communication in the 21st Century by Kevin Bradley Wright; Lisa Sparks; H. Dan O'Hair This popular and engaging text on health communication is now revised and updated in a second edition that incorporates recent research and boasts new material on topics such as crisis communication, social disparities in health, and systemic reform. Fully revised second edition of this popular and authoritative text Includes fresh material on topics such as crisis communication, health care reform, global health issues, and political issues in health communication New case studies, examples, and updated glossary keep the work relevant and student-friendly Provides effective strategies for healthcare organizations and individuals in communicating with patients Updated and enhanced online resources, including PowerPoint slides, test bank, and instructors manual, available upon publication at www.wiley.com/go/wright

Innovations in Social Marketing and Public Health Communication by Walter Wymer (Editor) This volume presents the most current theoretical advances in the fields of social marketing and public health communications. The volume is divided in two parts. Part 1 contains chapters pertaining to research and theory reflecting improvements and contributions to theories that help improving quality of life. It includes literature reviews, conceptual research and empirical studies on social marketing communications, models to understand individual's risky behaviors, and how to improve social interventions. The second part emphasizes applied research, consisting of best practices, applied experiments, and case studies on social marketing innovative practices with implications for quality of life.  

Oxford Handbook of Health Communication, Behavior Change, and Treatment Adherence by Leslie R. Martin (Editor); M. Robin DiMatteo (Editor) Better health all around - this is what clinicians and patients, alike, desire. But achieving and maintaining good health can be difficult task, as this requires the adoption of behaviors, habits, and lifestyles that are challenging for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the most vital tool in thedelivery of healthcare, despite its low-tech nature, is communication - it plays an important role in informing, motivating, and ultimately achieving optimal health behaviors. This edited volume brings together top-notch scientists and practitioners to explain and illustrate the state-of-the-art inthe interfaces of health communication, behavior change, and treatment adherence. The Oxford Handbook of Health Communication, Behavior Change, and Treatment Adherence presents a three-factor model that includes information, motivation, and strategy. If individuals are to engage in health-promoting behaviors they must be informed and know what they should do and how to do it. Butinformation is not enough - individuals must want to carry out those behaviors, they must be motivated to do so. Finally, people must have the resources to do those things that they know are good and that they desire to do - barriers must be minimized or removed and effective strategies and supportsystems put into place. Although these three elements are broadly applicable, their details will necessarily vary; the second major section of the handbook therefore revisits health behavior change and treatment adherence from the perspective of different points in the lifespan and in the context ofcomorbidities.Readers will find in this handbook a synthesis of cutting-edge empirical research and demonstrably effective applications, solidly grounded in theory. Clearly written by some of the best scholars and professionals in the field, this volume is accessible, highly informative, and a must-have forunderstanding the ins-and-outs of health communication, behavior change, and treatment adherence.

Research Methods in Health Communication by Bryan B. Whaley (Editor) This volume provides an essential roster of primary research methods as they apply to health communication inquiry. Editor Bryan B. Whaley brings together key health communication researchers to write about their primary methodological areas. Their chapters offer guidance and insights for a variety of approaches to answering research questions. The methods included here cover: Exploration and Description: interview/focus groups, case study, ethnography, and surveys; Examining Messages and Interpersonal Exchanges: narrative analysis, conversational analysis, analyzing physician-patient interactions, social network analysis, and content analysis; Causal Explication: experimental research, meta-analysis, and meta-synthesis; and Cultural, Population, and Critical Concerns: rhetorical methods and criticism, and methodological issues when investigating stigmatized populations, and groups with health disparities. Chapters cite or use examples from allied health areas -- nursing, public health, sociology, medicine -- to demonstrate the breadth of health communication studies. This work highlights the importance of methodology in health communication research in multiple contexts. Developed to provide a fundamental reference for investigating health communication, this volume will serve as an invaluable tool for researchers and students across the social science and health disciplines.

Speaking of Health: Assessing Health Communication Strategies for Diverse Populations by Board on Neuroscience and Behavioral Health Staff; Institute of Medicine (U.S.) Staff [Download Free PDF of this book] We are what we eat. That old expression seems particularly poignant every time we have our blood drawn for a routine physical to check our cholesterol levels. And, it's not just what we eat that affects our health. Whole ranges of behaviors ultimately make a difference in how we feel and how we maintain our health. Lifestyle choices have enormous impact on our health and well being. But, how do we communicate the language of good health so that it is uniformly received-and accepted-by people from different cultures and backgrounds? Take, for example, the case of a 66 year old Latina. She has been told by her doctor that she should have a mammogram. But her sense of fatalism tells her that it is better not to know if anything is wrong. To know that something is wrong will cause her distress and this may well lead to even more health problems. Before she leaves her doctor's office she has decided not to have a mammogram-that is until her doctor points out that having a mammogram is a way to take care of herself so that she can continue to take care of her family. In this way, the decision to have a mammogram feels like a positive step. Public health communicators and health professionals face dilemmas like this every day. Speaking of Health looks at the challenges of delivering important messages to different audiences. Using case studies in the areas of diabetes, mammography, and mass communication campaigns, it examines the ways in which messages must be adapted to the unique informational needs of their audiences if they are to have any real impact. Speaking of Health looks at basic theories of communication and behavior change and focuses on where they apply and where they don't. By suggesting creative strategies and guidelines for speaking to diverse audiences now and in the future, the Institute of Medicine seeks to take health communication into the 21st century. In an age where we are inundated by multiple messages every day, this book will be a critical tool for all who are interested in communicating with diverse communities about health issues.

Strategic Urban Health Communication by Charles Okigbo (Editor) Strategic Urban Health Communication Charles C. Okigbo, editor People are bombarded with messages continuously and sorting through them constantly. In this milieu, critical ideas about health promotion and illness prevention are forced to compete with distracting, conflicting, even contradictory information. To get vital messages through, communication must be effective, targeted, artful--in a word, strategic. Strategic Urban Health Communication provides a road map for understanding strategy, enhancing strategic planning skills, and implementing strategic communication campaigns. Deftly written chapters link the art and science of strategic planning to world health goals such as reducing health inequities and eradicating diseases. Flexibility is at the heart of these cases, which span developed and developing countries, uses of traditional and digital media, and chronic and acute health challenges. And the contributors ground their dispatches in the larger context of health promotion, giving readers useful examples of thinking globally while working locally. Included in the coverage: Urbanization, population, and health myths: addressing common misconceptions. Integrating HIV/family planning programs: opportunities for strategic communication. The role of sports in strategic health promotion in low-income areas. The Internet as a sex education tool: a case study from Thailand. Advertising and childhood obesity in China. Health communication strategies for sustainable development in a globalized world. Balancing depth of understanding of audiences and methods of reaching them, Strategic Urban Health Communication is a forward-looking resource geared toward professionals and researchers in urban health, global health, and health communication.