Health Communication - History

History

Although health communication is not new, the field has developed as its own entity over the past 30 years or so. Key events include (from Kreps et al. 1998):

  • 1975 – International Communication Association establishes the Therapeutic Communication Interest Group (which later became the “Health Communication” Division)
  • 1979 – The American Academy on Physician and Patient (later renamed the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare) was established to promote research, education, and professional standards in patient-clinician communication.
  • 1985 – National Communication Association forms the Commission for Health Communication, which later became the Health Communication Division
  • 1984 – Health communication textbooks begin appearing: Kreps & Thornton (1984), Sharf (1984), and Northhouse & Northhouse (1985)
  • 1989 – First peer reviewed journal devoted to health communication, Health Communication. Followed in 1996 by the Journal of Health Communication
  • 1995 – Undergraduate and graduate health communication majors begin to be offered. Tufts University School of Medicine offers the first Master of Science in health communication together with Emerson College
  • 1998 – The Health Communication Working Group of the American Public Health Association was established to examine the role of health communication in public health promotion.
  • 1999 – The National Cancer Institute (National Institutes of Health) establishes the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch (HCIRB) in their Behavioral Research Program, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. The National Cancer Institute identifies health communication as an extraordinay research opportunity for promoting cancer prevention and control.
  • 1999 – The National Cancer Institute establishes the Health Communication Intervention research program, funding seven multi-year research projects to study innovative strategies for communicating cancer information to diverse populations.
  • 1999 – The Journal of Medical Internet Research is established to study health and health care in the Internet age.
  • 2002 – The National Cancer Institute establishes the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) biennial representative national survey of consumer health information seeking, acquisition, and use to evaluate progress in cancer communication and to guide health communication intervention.
  • 2003 – The National Cancer Institute announced establishment of four national Centers of Excellent in Cancer Communication Research (CECCRs) providing five year funding for research centers at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, and Saint Louis University. The CECCR program was designed to make major advances in health communication research and application, as well as to train the next generation of health communication scholars.
  • 2004 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) establishes the National Center for Health Marketing (NCHM)for promoting and conducting health marketing and communication research to support national health promotion efforts.
  • 2004 – The Coalition for Health Communication (CHC) is established as an inter-organizational task force whose mission is to strengthen the identity and advance the field of health communication. CHC represents the ICA and NCA Health Communication Divisions and the APHA Health Communication Working Group.
  • 2007 – The first dedicated Ph.D. program in Health and Strategic Communication is offered by the George Mason University Department of Communication.
  • 2008 – The National Cancer Institute announced re-issuing of the national Centers of Excellent in Cancer Communication Research (CECCRs) program. They provided five years of funding for five research centers (at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, Washington University, St. Louis, and Kaiser Permanente, Colorado. The new CECCR program was designed to continue progress in advancing in health communication research and application, as well as to train the next generation of health communication scholars.
  • 2009 – First serious efforts put forth by Home Controls' HealthComm Systems to educate consumers regarding affordable, unobtrusive home technology allowing the aging to remain at home for months or years longer than ever before
  • 2009 – The Society for Participatory Medicine (SPM) is established to promote participatory medicine by and among patients, caregivers and their medical teams and to promote clinical transparency among patients and their physicians through the exchange of information, via conferences, as well through the distribution of correspondence and other written materials. The SPM publishes the Journal of Participatory Medicine.
  • 2009 – The Murrow Center for Media and Health Promotion is established at Washington State University.

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