Health Communication is a transdisciplinary field that is integral to a variety of other fields, including public health, healthcare, global health, and community development. Health communication is most commonly understood as a field of theory, research, and practice which studies and uses communication strategies, methods, programs, and interventions as a means to inform and influence individual and community decisions "that enhance health". It is a common area of study within the larger Communication discipline explained by the National Communication Association. Effective and successful uses of health communication will utilize multifaceted approaches in order to best reach intended audiences with comprehensive interventions and messages that will ultimately protect public health outcomes. Intended outcomes of health communication can include: increasing audience knowledge and awareness of a health issue; influencing behaviors and attitudes towards a health issue; demonstrating healthy practices; showing benefits of behavior changes to public health outcomes; advocating a position on a health issue or policy; increasing demand or support of health services; and arguing myths and misconceptions related to health.
Read more about Health Communication: Overview, Strategies and Methods, Applications/Applied Health Communication, Challenges and Criticisms, Development, History, Disciplines, See Also, References
Famous quotes containing the word health:
“At last I feel the equal of my parents. Knowing you are going to have a child is like extending yourself in the world, setting up a tent and saying “Here I am, I am important.” Now that I’m going to have a child it’s like the balance is even. My hand is as rich as theirs, maybe for the first time. I am no longer just a child.”
—Anonymous Father. Ourselves and Our Children, by Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, ch. 5 (1978)