Why Health Communication Is Important in Public Health
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Communication and Informatics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 January 2024) | Viewed by 526
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Recent health crises have shown that communication is becoming an increasingly fundamental tool in the field of public health [1].
On the one hand, it has been shown that the media (offline but also online) continue to play a key role in the distribution of health information (not only for the public, but also for professionals and the scientific community) [2]. The media also have the capacity to selectively direct attention and political actions towards certain problems [3], and they are able to condition people’s perception of many health issues. In this sense, the media have a widespread target audience for public health advocacy strategies [4], which has become increasingly sophisticated. As seen in risk prevention and the promotion of healthy behaviors, the dissemination of certain messages through the press, radio or television, or networks is the starting point of the whole process. For this reason, ministries, departments, hospitals, laboratories, NGOs and all institutions linked to the health field are developing communication offices and employing external public relations consultants to help their message be heard by the media. In addition to collective communication, interpersonal and organizational communication are essential for the protection of health information, as the recent situation of the COVID-19 pandemic has shown.
On the other hand, as seen with the coronavirus infodemic, it is now essential to protect public health information to combat the dissemination of certain false messages and to reinforce the transparency of supranational institutions and governments with good political, administrative and institutional communication [5].
The aim of this Special Issue is to compile studies that show the benefits of good health communication management (in a broad sense), as well as the damage caused in multiple aspects by the absence of this.
The following is a list of suggested topics:
- Health information distribution and health inequalities;
- Communication and pandemics;
- Risk communication;
- Agenda setting process in public health issues;
- Public health framing through media and networks;
- Public health advocacy and communication strategies;
- Diseases mongering and communication;
- Disinformation, misinformation, and information concealment and public health;
- Health promotion through communication;
- Health policies and communication;
- Entertainment, communication and health.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews and case reports are welcome. We look forward to receiving your contributions.
References
- Michel, J.; Rehsmann, J.; Mettler, A.; Starvaggi, C.; Travaglini, N.; Aebi, C.; Sauter, C. Public Health communication: attitudes, experiences and lessons learned from users of a COVID-19 digital triage tool for children. Public Health 2022, 10, 2345. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.901125.
- Walter, N.; Brooks, J.; Saucier, J.; Suresh, S. Evaluating the impact of attempts to correct health misinformation on social media: a meta-analysis. Health Commun. 2021, 36, 1776–1784. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1794553.
- Majid, I.; Ananda, R. The Effect of Media on the COVID-19 Vaccination Program for the Community. Basic Sci. Technol. 2022, 11, 9–12. https://doi.org/10.35335/jbst.v11i1.1771.
- The Fight for Public Health. Principles and Practice of Media Advocacy. Available online: https://www.wiley.com/enus/Fight+For+Public+Health%3A+Principles+%26+Practice+of+Media+Advocacy-p-9780727908490 (accessed on 15 December 2022).
- From Ignorance to Distrust: The Public “Discovery” of COVID-19 Around International Women’s Day in Spain. International Journal of Communication. Available online: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/18340 (accessed on 15 December 2022).
Prof. Dr. Marta Martin Llaguno
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- health communication
- health information
- health inequalities
- risk communication
- diseases mongering
- health promotion
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