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.
- Obregon, R. & Waisbord, S. (eds.) (2012). The handbook of global health communication. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
- 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.
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