COMM 50006000 Special Topic: Health Communication

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COMM 5000/6000Special Topic Health Communication

• WELCOME!

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On the agenda for today.

• Introductions
• Faculty Student introductions
• Complete Student Contact Information Form
• Course Description, Policies, Guidelines
• Course Expectations
• Discussion of Course Assignments
• Syllabus
• Health Communication History Overview

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Course Description

• Health Communication
• Emerging specialty in communication
• Exciting field of study
• Survey course
• Explore topics and issues across a wide range of
  communication contexts
• In a nutshell, we will examine how health
  communication theory research draw on and, in
  turn, inform the different areas of communication

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Policies Guidelines

• Written assignments
• Should be of quality, both in content and style
• Assignments with excessive grammatical and
  typographical errors will not be accepted
• Late work and missed exams
• Assignments must be submitted by the day and
  time that they are due
• Penalty for assignments submitted late
• Quizzes (when issued) only available on the day
  that they are issued requests for making up
  missed quizzes will not be entertained!
• Academic integrity

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Course Expectations

• Take home exam worth 30 points due by 500 pm
  on April 29, 2006
• Class presentation worth 20 points
• Starting the 2nd or 3rd week of classes, 2-3
  member teams will be responsible for leading
  classroom discussion on assigned topics
• Application based learning worth 40 points
• Final project worth 30 points
• Project presentation 10 points
• Over the course of the semester, 4-5 member teams
  will collaborate on projects that incorporate
  concepts, theories, and issues related to the
  study and practice of health communication
• Class Participation worth 10 points
• Mental, not physical, presence and quality,
  rather than quantity, of comments will be
  benchmarks for evaluating class participation

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Making sense of the syllabus

• Can access syllabus by either going to
• http//hum.utah.edu/display.php?pageId575subhea
  dfalse and following the link to COMM 5000
• OR
• By going to www.drrangarajan.com and following
  the link to the COMM 5000 course web page
• Required readings for this course fall into three
  categories
• Required text (Thompson et al., 2003)
• Materials on course reserve at Marriott Library
• Online access to articles (available as .pdf
  files through hyperlinks on the syllabus)
• All readings MUST be completed before the class
  period for which they are listed

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Course Overview Complete Any questions?
Comments? Suggestions?

• Alright then, lets move on.

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Health Communication - Overview

• Concerned with the central role of human
  interaction in the provision of health care and
  health promotion (Kreps Query, 1990, p. 293)
• Communication pervasive in creating, gathering,
  and sharing health information
• Two major interdependent branches of health
  communication inquiry provision of health care
  promotion of public health
• Dynamics of communication in health contexts
  very complex, the communication channels used
  numerous, and influence of communication on
  health outcomes powerful!

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Health Communication - History
Communication
Psychology
Medical Sociology
Medicine
1960s Bandura, Feldman, Zola, McGuire
1950s Rogers, Ruesch, Bateson
1960s Freeman, Jaco, Mechanic
1950s Korsch Negrete, Bird, Blum, Bowers,
Health Communication

• ICA established the Therapeutic Communication
  Interest Group in 1972 this later became the
  Health Communication Division
• NCA formed the Commission for Health
  Communication in 1985 later became the Health
  Communication Division
• Earliest book on Health Communication Kreps
  Thornton (1984), Sharf (1984), and Northouse
  Northouse (1985)
• First dedicated refereed journal, Health
  Communication, began publication in 1989,
  followed by The Journal of Health Communication
  in 1996

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Nature of Health Communication Inquiry
Health Communication
Social-Scientific Scholarship
Theories from Humanities
Applied Principles from Professional Fields
Communication, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology
Rhetoric, Philosophy, Art, Ethics, Theater,
Literature
Education, Management, Law, Marketing
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Complexity of Health Communication Inquiry

• Extremely broad research area occurs at many
  different levels. Primary levels of health
  communication
• Intrapersonal internal mental states and
  psychological processes that influence health
  care
• Interpersonal relational influences on health
  outcomes
• Group interdependent coordination of group
  members in health care teams, support groups
• Organizational coordinate interdependent groups
  , mobilize different specialists
• Societal generation, dissemination and
  utilization of relevant health information
  through diverse media to broad audiences to
  promote health education and promotion

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Complexity of Health Communication Inquiry -
Continued

• Health communication also occurs across
• Different channels of communication
• Face to face communication between providers and
  consumers, members of health care teams, and
  support group members are the focus of many
  health communication studies
• Broad range of communication media personal and
  mass communication are also the focus of health
  communication inquiry
• Diverse social contexts - homes, schools,
  offices, clinics, and hospitals

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Competing Perspectives in Health Communication
Inquiry
Health Communication
Promotion of public health
Health care delivery
Mediated Communication
Interpersonal Communication
New Technology
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Concluding Thoughts

• Current research on health communication clearly
  illustrates the powerful influences of
  communication on health care (e.g. Kreps
  OHair, 1995)
• Health communication research opportunities for
  federal research funding
• Health communication scholars increasingly in
  demand by communication programs at universities
  and colleges
• Increased interdisciplinary respect and
  credibility progressive maturation of the
  health communication field