Health Communication Research Paper Topics

See our list of health communication research paper topics. Health communication is the study and application of the generation, creation, and dissemination of health-related information, health-related interactions among individual social actors and institutions, and their effects on different publics including individuals, community groups, and institutions. The challenges inherent in disease prevention and health promotion warrant a multidisciplinary and multilevel approach that examines the role of distal factors such as social and economic policies and health policies, near- proximal factors such as neighborhoods and health-care organizations, and proximal factors such as individual lifestyles to explain individual and population health. Some have argued that communication is one thread that could connect the distal and proximal factors to explain individual and population health. Given this charge, health communication, though primarily a derivative field, draws from and contributes to such fields as mass communication, journalism, communication studies, epidemiology, public health, health behavior and health education, medicine, sociology, and psychology, among others.

Health Communication Research Paper Topics

Community Health Issues

Change Agency
Collective Efficacy
Community Mobilization
Community Organizing as a Research Approach
Community Participation
Community-Based Participatory Research
Comprehensive Community Initiatives
Conflict Management: Health Professionals
Cultural Differences
Health Activism and Public Health
Immigrant Families
Media Literacy
Nature, Environment, and Sustainability
Organizational and Public Policy Barriers
Readiness Assessments
Rural Health Communication
Sex Workers
Social Action, Types of
Social Aggregates
Social Capital
Social Determinants of Health
University–Community Relationships

End-of-Life Issues

Advance Directives
Advanced Aging Communities
Bereavement
Communicating Bad News
Death and Dying
Family Communication and End of Life
Final Conversations
Hospice
Palliative Care
Pediatric Hospice Care
Rhetoric: Death with Dignity
Staff Communication in Nursing Homes
Terminality

Evaluation of Health Intervention, Education, and Communication

Content Analysis
Data Mining
Focus Groups
Logic Models and Program Evaluation
Measurement Problems
Message Quality Measurement
Mixed Methods of Evaluation
Modeling Development and Testing
New Technologies and Intervention Evaluation Methodology
Qualitative Methods of Evaluation
Quantitative Methods of Evaluation
Risk Communication
Risk Society
Sampling
Setting Objectives in Health Communication and Intervention
Statistical Challenges in Evaluation

Everyday and Family Health Communication Issues

Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention
Aging
Alcohol and Health Decision Making
Childhood Injury Prevention
Communication with Families
Consequences of Health Literacy
Consequences of Stigmatization
Coping with Stigmatization
Courtesy Stigma
Cross-Generational Health Communication
Decision Making
Disabilities and Family Relationships
Everyday Health Communication
Familial Roles in Health Communication
Family Caregiving
Family Meeting
Family Planning
Family Relationship to Health
Grief and Loss
Health Communication with Children
Health Education
Health Literacy and Numeracy
Health Transition and Family Communication
Illness Identity
Improving Health Literacy
Integrating Health Literacy into Health Care Systems
Measurement of Health Literacy
Model of Health Literacy
Mother–Daughter Dyad Communication
Online Health Literacy
Religion and Spirituality
Social Construction of Disability
Social Identity
Social Influence of Everyday Health Communication
Social Norms
Social Support and Cardiovascular Health
Social Support and Health
Social Support and Support Groups
Social Support Interventions
Stigma Reduction
Stigmatization
Stigmatization, Labels, Marks, and Peril
Surrogate Decision Makers
Teen Pregnancy
Types of Social Support
Unintended Effects of Health Communication

Health Campaigns

Advertising of Dietary Supplements
Advertising of Food
Advertising of Over-the-Counter Drugs
Advertising of Prescription Drugs
Affordable Care Act
Assessment of Health Campaigns
Assessment of Health Campaigns
Awareness and Instruction Strategies
Campaign Effects Versus Effectiveness
Campaigns in Developing Countries
Channels and Formats
Communication Complex
Communication for Behavioral Impact
Crisis Communication
Disease Prevention
Dissemination
Emotion Appraisals Regarding Risk
Evidence Role in Health Campaigns
Formative Evaluation
Governmental Regulation of Advertising
Health Campaigns
Incentive Appeals
Influential Source Messengers
Integrated Marketing Mix
Interpersonal Communication and Mass Media Health Campaigns
Message Design
Message Sidedness
Message Tailoring
Optimistic Bias
Perceived Threat
Program Strategies: Campaigns
Public Service Announcements
Risk Communication
Risk Communication and Food Safety
Risk Perceptions
Risk-Taking Behavior
Segmentation of Health Campaigns
Sensation-Seeking Targeting
Social Marketing

International and Diversity Issues in Health Communication

Conflict and Negative Health Effects
Cultural Sensitivity
Discrimination or Bias in Health Care
Disenfranchised Populations
Ethnic Diversity in Health Care Settings
Health Disparities in Clinical Interactions
Health Disparities on Communal Level
Human Rights
Immigrant Populations
Intercultural Health Communication
Islamic Healing
LGBT Issues
Marginalized Populations
Overall Health Disparities
Personal Influences on Health Disparities
Public Health Intervention in Multicultural Communities
Relational Influences on Health Disparities
Solutions for Health Disparities
Structure-Centered Approach

Health Information

Defensive Reactions to Health Messages
Digital Divide
Disclosure and Family Health History
Disclosure and Medical Errors
Disclosure and Providers and Patients
Emotion and Information Seeking
Explaining Illness
Expressive Writing and Health
Health Citizenship
Health Communication Curricula
Information Nonseeking
Information Seeking
Information Sharing
Need for Explaining Illness
Numeracy
Online Health Information Seeking
Online Health Information Sharing
Opinion Leaders
Psychosocial Determinants of Health Information-Seeking Behavior
Social Determinants of Health Information-Seeking Behavior

History of Health Communication

Basic Concepts of Communication
Communication Across the Lifespan
Communication Networks
E-Health Defined
Evolution of Medicine as Business
Health Information Channels
History of Health Communication
Patient and Relationship-Centered Communication and Medicine
Personalized Medicine
Postcolonial Studies and Health
Premises of Health Communication
Science Communication
Translational Research

Media Content

Advertising Unhealthy Foods to Children
Body Images and Portrayals
Celebrity Cancer Announcements
Celebrity Endorsements
Critical Analysis of Media and Health
Digital Media
Entertainment–Education
European Approach to Entertainment–Education
Health Blogging
Health Consequences of Pornography
Health Journalism
Health Promotion
Hollywood and Public Relations Approach to Entertainment–Education
Ideological Hegemony
Impact of Media Content
Institutional Processes and Competing Agendas
Interpretation and Effects of Disclaimers
Mass Media
Media and Health Disparities
Media and Quality of Health Information
Media Content: Magazines
Media Content: Newspapers
Media Content: Other Print
Media Content: Televised Entertainment
Media Content: Televised News
Media Coverage of Genetically Modified Organisms
Media Depictions of Disability
Media Depictions of Medical Workers
Media Depictions of Mental Illnesses
Moderating Variables and Audience Effects
Music in Health Behavior
Obesity and Mass Media
Pathways to Change Tool
Public Relations and Health Journalism
Public Relations and Health Promotion
Public Relations and Social Media
Reaching Audiences
Role of Involvement in Entertainment–Education
Social Marketing and Community Change Perspective
Television
Twitter and Public Health

Organizational Issues and Health Policy

Adult Children of Alcoholics
Advocacy
American Medical Association
Conflict Management and Health Professionals
Department of Health and Human Services
Health Care Teams
Health Policy
Healthy People Initiative
Hospital Governance Culture
Informed Consent
Interdisciplinary Health Services Research
Mediated Health Campaigns
Multicultural Campaigns
National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy
National Cancer Institute
National Institutes of Health
National Library of Medicine
National Medical Association
Organizations and Health
Patient Privacy
Politics and Political Complexities
Public Relations and Health Care Organizations
Role Stress
Segmentation and Public Relations
Stress and Burnout
Stress and Burnout: Emotional Labor
Stress and Burnout: Home–Work Conflict
Three Community and Five Cities Projects
S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
UNICEF
Working Well
World Health Organization

Provider–Patient Interaction

Adherence to Medical Regimens
Amputation
Anger Appeals
Anxiety
Clinical Trial Participation
Coding Health Interaction
Collaborative Decision Making
Compassion
Contested Illnesses
Conversation Analysis
Coping
Decision Making Between Support Providers and Persons with Disabilities
Dependent Variables Derived from Critical Health Outcomes
Difficult Patients
Discourse and Health
Doctor–Patient Communication
Emergency Rooms
Emotions and the Medical Care Process
Face and Politeness
Health Care Environment
HIV Test Counseling
Humor
Identification
Interactional Context and Intervention
Interpersonal Communication Skills
Interpreters and Language
Interviewing in the Health Care Context
Language and Negation Bias in Doctor–Patient Interaction
Language Brokering
Listening in Health Care Interactions
Malpractice Litigation
Medical Outcomes
Nonverbal Communication in Health Care Settings
Open Dialogue Approach
Overtreatment and Overreliance on Diagnostic Testing
Pathways to Health Outcomes
Patient Activation
Patient Education and Hospital Discharge and Readmission
Patient Empowerment
Patient Navigators and Family Advisors
Patient Safety
Patients and Communication Skills Training:
Prescribing Medications
Providers and Communication Skills Training and Assessment
Quality of Life as a Health Outcome
Satisfaction
Shared Mind in Collaborative Decision Making:
Supportive Listening
Uncertainty in Collaborative Decision Making

Public Health Communication

Biopreparedness and Biosecurity
Climate Change
Communication Networks
Communication of Scientific Complexity
Developmental Health
Disaster Relief
Emergency Preparedness and Response
Environmental Health
Evolution of Public Health Communication
Flu Vaccine Rhetoric
HIV/AIDS Prevention
Immunizations
Memorable Messages
Mother-to-Child HIV/AIDS Transmission
Newborn Care
Online Health Information Credibility
Priming in Health Campaign Messages
Public Engagement and Science Policy
Public Health and Academic Partnerships
Public Health Communication
Public Understanding of Research
Public Understanding of Science
Research in Environmental Health
School Health
Science Literacy
Sexual Health
Tobacco
Warning Labels
Warning Labels on Alcohol
Warning Labels on Cigarettes
Warning Labels on Prescription Drugs
Women’s Health
Work Site Safety

Specific Health Issues/Providers

Child and Spousal Abuse
Acupuncture
Age-Related Hearing Loss
Alternative and Complementary Medicine
Alzheimer’s Disease
Ayurveda, Yoga, and Meditation
Bioterrorism
Birth Control and Contraception
Breast Cancer
Breastfeeding
Bullying and Cyberbullying
Cancer Risk Communication
Cancer Survivorship
Childbirth
Childhood Injury Prevention
Chronic Diseases
Communication Interventions
Contraception
Depression
Diabetes
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Disability
Disaster Relief
Distance Caregiving
Drug and Alcohol Abuse Minimization
Eating Disorders
Emergency Health Communication
Enhancement
Environmental Health
Exercise
Fertility
Gambling Addiction
Gender
Genetics
Heart Health
HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS and Disclosure Dilemmas
HIV/AIDS Treatment
HIV/AIDS, Condom Use, and Meanings
Holistic Medicine
Human Papillomavirus
Influenza A Virus Subtype H1N1
Integrative Medicine
Internet Addiction
Language, Metaphors, and Social Construction of HIV/AIDS
Malaria and Mosquito Nets
Male Circumcision
Mammography
Meanings of HIV/AIDS Test
Mental Health
Military Health
Military Sexual Assault
Multilevel Interventions
Neurorhetoric
Nursing
Nutrition and Diet
Obesity
Oral Health and Dentistry
Organ Donation
Osteopathy
Pandemics
Pharmacists
Physical Activity and Weight
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Pregnancy
Prenatal Health Promotion
Prostate Cancer
Responses to Slow-Motion Technological Disaster
Safer Sex
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
Sex Education
Sexual Assault
Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention
Skin Cancer and Sun Safety
Skin Cancer and Tanning
Smoking
Social Determinants of Disparities in HIV/AIDS
Suicide
Transitions, Health Effects, and Support
Traumatic Brain Injury
Tuberculosis
Vaccinations

Technology and Health Communication

Big Data
Biomedical and Health Informatics
Bundled Interventions
Communication Technology Theoretical Frameworks
Computer-Tailored Interventions
Customization as Tailoring 2.0
Digital Divide
Digital Personal Health Records
Electronic Medical Records
Free-Standing Computer Kiosks
Gaming
Geographic Information Systems Technology
Internet and Information Acquisition
Medical Body Implants
Message Tailoring
Mobile Health
New Reproductive Technologies
Online Focus Groups
Online Health Information Exchange and Privacy
Online Support Groups
Online Support Groups Advantages and Disadvantages
Persuasive Technologies for Health
PubMed
Secondary Data Analysis
Social Media
Technology and Health Outcomes
Technology Impact on Physician–Patient Dialogue
Telemedicine
Virtual Reality Environments
Weak Tie/Strong Tie Network Support
Web-Based Delivery

Health Communication Theories, Ethics, and Philosophy

Acculturation
Action Tendency Emotions
Acute Versus Preventive Care
Affection Exchange Theory
Ageism
Agenda Setting
Amputee Wannabes
Attribution Theory and Attribution Error
Biological Citizenship
Biopower and Biopolitics
Care Model and Productive Interaction
Change Approaches
Communication Accommodation Theory
Communication Privacy Management Theory
Communication Theory of Identity
Community Resilience
Control Theory
Critical Approaches
Cultivation Theory
Cultural Variance Model
Culture-Centered Approaches
Cyberchondria
Diffusion of Innovations Model
Double ABC-X Model of Family Stress and Coping
Dual-Processing Models
Ecological Perspectives
Encoded Exposure and Aided Versus Unaided Awareness
Ethic of Care
Ethics and Health Campaigns
Ethics and Health Communication Strategies
Ethics and New Technologies
Ethics of Provider–Patient Interaction
Ethnography
Ethnomethodology
Fatalism
Fear Appeals and the Extended Parallel Process Model
Framing
Generative Tensions in Health Communication Theory
Globalization Theory
Grounded Theory
Harm Reduction Theory
Health Belief Model
Health Communication Ethics
Health Locus of Control
Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture
Inconsistent Nurturing as Control Theory
Inoculation Effects
Instructional Principles of Risk Communication
Invisible Disabilities
Loose Versus Tight Coupling
Measurement of Social Networks
Media Complementarity Theory
Medicalization
Message Sensation Value
Meta-Analysis
Metaphor
Metatheory
Motivational Interviewing
Multilevel Modeling
Narrative Engagement Theory
Narrative Medicine
Narratives
Narratives and Barrier Reduction
Narratives and Health Campaigns
Narratives and Social Marketing
Negotiated Morality Theory
Olson’s Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems
Organization–Public Relations Theory
O-S-O-R Model
Perceived Effectiveness
Phenomenology
Photovoice
Placebo Effects
Problematic Integration Theory
Problem-Based Learning
Psychological Reactance
Psychometric Theory and Reliability/Validity of Measures
Realism
Reconceptualized Health Belief Model
Relational Dialectics Theory
Relational Health Communication Competence Model
Resilience
Rhetoric, Health, and Medicine
Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model
Risk Perception Attitude Framework
Self-Determination Theory
Self-Efficacy
Situational Theory and Communication Behaviors
Social Cognitive Theory
Social Comparison Theory
Social Construction of Reality
Social Construction Perspective on Risk Communication
Social Judgment Theory
Social Networks
Social Networks and Message Delivery
Societal Risk Reduction Motivation Model
Sociometric Social Networks
Structural Violence and Health
Systems Theory
Theory of Motivated Information Management
Theory of Normative Social Behavior
Theory of Planned Behavior
Theory of Reasoned Action
Traditions of Health Communication Theory
Trait Approaches
Uncertainty Management Theory
Uses and Gratifications Theory
Weick’s Model of Organizing

Organization of the Field

There is no simple or complete way to organize the field of health communication, though several sub-fields have existed depending on one’s research interests, as well as adventitious and historical circumstances. At the individual level, the focus is twofold: (1) how health cognitions affect, and behaviors influence and are influenced by, health communications; and (2) how interpersonal interactions between patients, family members, and providers, and with members of their social network, influence health outcomes. At the organizational level, some have studied the role of communication within health-care systems and how organization of the media and the practices of media professionals may influence population and individual health.

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Finally, at the societal level, the focus is on large-scale social changes and the role of communication with such changes. For example, one might examine how strategic communications as well as natural diffusion of information impact individual and population health; or how communication mediates and is influenced by social determinants such as social class, neighborhood, social cohesion and conflict, social and economic policies, and how that impacts individual and population health.

Even as these levels provide a useful organizing framework, two caveats are warranted. First, policymaking and research related to health may affect more than one level. Second, interest in a level of analysis and pursuit of work at one level is not inconsequential. Locating a problem at one level, and studying it at that level, have implications for the kind of policy or practice that is likely to emerge from that research.

Interpersonal Communication

Extensive attention has been given to understanding the consequences of communication between physicians and patients on patient satisfaction, adherence, and quality of life. One theme is who controls the interaction between providers and patients, known as ‘relational control.’ A second theme focuses on the outcomes of patient– provider interactions. Extensive research has documented that patient–provider communication influences patient satisfaction which, in turn, is related to patient adherence and compliance to treatment regimens, ease of distress, physiological response, length of stay in the hospital, quality of life, and health status, among others. Third, researchers have documented stark differences in patient preparation and access, and in care received and health outcomes, between social classes as well as racial and ethnic groups.

The implications of interpersonal interaction in the context of families, friends, co-workers, and voluntary associations on health outcomes have become one of the most dynamic areas of research in health communication. This topic has been pursued from diverse theoretical viewpoints by researchers focusing on social networks, social support, family communications, and social capital based on the researcher’s disciplinary origins and research interests. In addition to social support, social networks can accelerate or decelerate diffusion of new information, and also influence how it is interpreted (Himelboim & Han 2014). Members within networks can serve as role models for lifestyle behaviors such as smoking and obesity. The emergence and spread of the Internet have broadened the scope of interpersonal interaction and its influence in health communication by moderating the limits of geography.

Mass Media and Health

The incidental and routine use of media for news and entertainment serves four functions in health. (1) The informational function is served when casual use of media for news or other purposes may expose the audience to developments on new treatments or new drugs, alert them to risk factors, or warn them of impending threats such as avian flu; (2) media serve an instrumental function by providing information that facilitates action; e.g., in times of natural disasters the audience may learn about places where they should take shelter, and information of this kind allows for practical action; (3) media defines what is acceptable and legitimate, performing a social control function; (4) the communal function is served when media provide social support, generate social capital, and connect people to social institutions and groups.

Information seeking, as a construct, has gained greater currency in recent times as more information on health has become routinely available because of greater coverage of health in the media, the spread of health-related content on the world wide web, or the consumerist movement in health that promotes informed or shared decision-making. It is widely assumed that under certain conditions some people actively look for health information to seek a second opinion, make a more informed choice on treatments, and learn in greater depth about a health problem that afflicts them or their friends or family members.

The most visible and popular means of strategic communications is through health campaigns which have become a critical arsenal in health promotion. A typical health campaign attempts to promote change by increasing the amount of information on the health topic, and by defining the issue of interest in such a way as to promote health or prevent disease. Recent reviews of the vast literature on health campaigns have identified conditions under which health campaigns can be successful (e.g. Noar 2006; Randolph & Viswanath 2004).

Emerging Challenges/Dimensions

First, the combined impact of computers and telecommunications on society has been transformative, impinging on almost every facet of human life including art, culture, science, and education. Consumer informatics integrates consumer information needs and preferences with clinical systems to empower patients to take charge of their healthcare, bring down costs, and improve quality of care. For example, the integration of electronic medical records with communications should facilitate communications between patients and providers, send automatic reminders to patients to stay on schedule, and help patients navigate the health-care system. Second, technological developments are coinciding with the consumerist movement in health-care. The paternalistic model that characterized the physician–patient relationship is slowly being complemented by alternative models such as shared/informed decisionmaking models (SDM/IDM) or patient-centered communication (PCC). Third, the significant investments in biomedical research enterprise in the developing world, and movement toward more evidence- based medicine, have led to calls for translation of the knowledge from the laboratory to the clinic and the community. Lastly, an urgent and a moral imperative in health is addressing the profound inequities in access to health-care and the disproportionate burden of disease faced by certain groups.

References:

Epstein, R. M. & Street, R. L., Jr. (2007). Patient-centered communication in cancer care: Promoting healing and reducing suffering. NIH Publication no. 07–6225. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute.
Glanz, K., Rimer, B., & Viswanath, K. (eds.) (2008). Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice. 4th ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Himelboim, I. & Han, J. Y. (2014). Cancer talk on twitter: Community structure and information sources in breast and prostate cancer social networks. Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives, 19(2), 210–225.
Hornik, R. (ed.) (2002). Public health communication: Evidence for behavior change. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
McCauley, M., Blake, K., Meissner, H., & Viswanath, K. (2013). The social group influences of U.S. health journalists and their impact on the newsmaking process. Health Education Research, 28(20), 339–51.
Noar, S. M. (2006). A 10-year retrospective of research in health mass media campaigns: Where do we go from here? Journal of Health Communication, 11, 21–42.
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Parker, J. C. & Thorson, E. (2008). Health communication in the new media landscape. New York: Springer.
Randolph, W. & Viswanath, K. (2004). Lessons learned from public health mass media campaigns: Marketing health in a crowded media world. Annual Review of Public Health, 25, 419–37.
Snyder, L. B. & Hamilton, M. A. (2002). A meta-analysis of U.S. health campaign effects on behavior: Emphasize enforcement, exposure, and new information, and beware of secular trend. In R. Hornik (ed.), Public health communication: Evidence for behavior change. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 357–383.
Viswanath, K. (2005). The communications revolution and cancer control. Nature Reviews Cancer, 5(10), 828–835.