Healthcare Communication 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 Care Sciences".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 125
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Effective communication is paramount in healthcare interactions, as it is a core component that impacts outcomes for many patients, members of the public, and health professionals’. Healthcare conversations can be difficult and challenging, especially if they include sensitivity and uncertainty, such as between people living with obesity or a mental health problem, and their health professionals, and or family member or friends. Communication is therefore not a peripheral skill but a modifiable determinant of therapeutic alliance and patient-reported outcomes. Although there are many public health strategies, and science has advanced on how we understand a range of public health issues, such as obesity, but the way we communicate has not, this has been demonstrated in a number of ways, such as increase in stigma, and continued lack of policy and treatment options and access to services for a range of individuals. Recent mistrust in some areas of science communication highlights that communication is as importance as the science, e.g., COVID-19. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic also saw an increase in digital communication in healthcare. Advances in technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), have and currently are transforming healthcare globally, and provide benefits in supporting healthcare communications; for example, recent advances in machine learning have allowed accurate textual transcription, emotion and communication style. Talking about healthcare can be sensitive and challenging with new digital communication opportunities, and thus further research is required to support difficult health conversations.
This Special Issue welcomes articles on a range of areas within healthcare communication in public health, including, but not limited to, the following:
- Communication within public health issues, such as obesity and mental health issues
- Digital communication in public health, such as the use of AI
- Health literacy/digital health literacy
- Challenging healthcare conversations
Dr. Anne Moorhead
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- communication
- healthcare
- public health
- digital health
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