The Routledge Handbook of Health Communication (Routledge Communication Series)

The Routledge Handbook of Health Communication brings together the current body of scholarly work in health communication. With its expansive scope, it offers an introduction for those new to this area, summarizes work for those already learned in the area, and suggests avenues for future research on the relationships between communicative processes and health/health care delivery.

This second edition of the Handbook has been organized to reflect the goals of health communication: understanding to make informed decisions and to promote formal and informal systems of care linked to health and well-being. It emphasizes work in such areas as barriers to disclosure in family conversations and medical interactions, access to popular media and advertising, and individual searches online for information and support to guide decisions and behaviors with health consequences.

This edition also adds an overview of methods used in health communication and the unique challenges facing health communication researchers applying traditional methods to efforts to gain reliable and valid evidence about the role of communication for health. It introduces the promise of translational research being conducted by health communication researchers from multiple disciplines to form transdisciplinary theories and teams to increase the well-being of not only humans but the systems of care within their nations.

Arguably the most comprehensive scholarly resource available for study in this area, the Routledge Handbook of Health Communication serves an invaluable role and reference for students, researchers, and scholars doing work in health communication.

Teresa L. Thompson is Professor of Communication at the University of Dayton, USA. She edits the journal Health Communication, and has authored or edited seven books and over 70 articles on various aspects of health communication. She is the 2009 National Communication Association/International Communication Association Health Communication Scholar of the Year.

Roxanne Parrott is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Communication Arts & Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University, USA, with a joint appointment in Health Policy & Administration. She was the recipient of the ICA/NCA Outstanding Health Communication Scholar Award in 2004.

Jon Nussbaum is a Professor of Communication Arts & Sciences and Human Development & Family Studies at The Pennsylvania State University, USA. He is a Fellow and Past President of the International Communication Association, and former editor of the Journal of Communication. He received the 2007 Outstanding Health Communication Scholar Award from ICA/NCA.