Health communication: Theoretical and practical aspects

View or download the full article: 
UDC: 
316.776.33
Authors: 

M.A. Grishina

Organization: 

State Academic University for the Humanities, 26 Maronovskii lane, Moscow, 119049, Russian Federation

Abstract: 

Nowadays chronic non-infectious diseases are spreading rapidly and health risk factors related to people's behavior are becoming more and more significant. Efficient communication between medical personnel and their patients is one of the basic ways to stimulate self-preserving behavior. The paper dwells on health communication phenomenon and basic theoretical approaches which allow to get an insight into the essence of the process. Communication is studied at interpersonal, group, organization, and mass levels.

As information technologies now play a significant role in the life of any society, the author considers certain possibilities of their application in public health care, for example, in such spheres as electronic and mobile health care, or telemedicine, and also analyzes experience accumulated in application of communication programs both in the RF and abroad. Special attention is paid to analyzing how efficient communication programs are, and how they can possibly influence population knowledge, attitudes, and behavior as regards their health. Behavior changing models give theoretical grounds for changes in people's behavior; such models are "a model of belief in health" (I. Rosenstock, D. Becker), "theory of planned behavior" (I. Ajzen), theory of stage changes on behavior (G. Prochask). The paper also contains analysis of possibilities to conduct sociological research when working out, implementing, and assessing communication programs aimed at formation of health-preserving behavior. To efficiently implement communication programs, it is necessary to combine efforts by medical experts and experts in social and humanitarian sciences.

The paper can be of interest to a wide range of readers, especially to those who specialize in prevention medicine and sociology of health.

Keywords: 
communication, communication programs, electronic health care, mobile health care, health, sanitary education, chronic diseases, health-preserving behavior, changes in behavior
Grishina M.A. Health communication: theoretical and practical aspects. Health Risk Analysis, 2018, no. 2, pp. 138–150. DOI: 10.21668/health.risk/2018.2.16.eng
References: 
  1. Chislo umershikh po osnovnym klassam prichin smerti [Number of death cases as per basic death causes]. Federal'naya sluzhba gosudarstvennoi statistiki: ofitsial'nyi sait. Available at: http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/population/demo/demo24.xls (06.06.2018) (in Russian).
  2. Neinfektsionnye zabolevaniya [Non-infectious diseases]. Vsemirnaya organizatsiya zdravookhraneniya: ofitsial'nyi sait. Available at: http://www.who.int/ru/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases (02.06.2018) (in Russian).
  3. National Cancer Institute. Making Health Communications Programs Work. Washington DC, National Institutes of Health Publ., 2008, 19 p.
  4. Tyukhlova I.N., Prot'ko N.N. Sovremennye podkhody k organizatsii sanitarnogo prosveshcheniya naseleniya [Contemporary approaches to sanitary education of population]. Aktual'nye problemy meditsiny: materialy nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii, posvyashchennoi 55-letiyu uchrezhdeniya obrazovaniya «Grodnenskii gosudarstvennyi meditsinskii universitet» (3–4 oktyabrya 2013 g.): v 2 ch. In: V.A. Snezhitskii ed. Grodno, GrGMU publ., 2013, part. 2, pp. 325 (in Russian).
  5. Graduate Programs in Health Education and Communication. GradSchools.com. Available at: https://www.gradschools.com/programs/public-health/health-education-comm... (06.06.2018).
  6. Barg A.O. Risk-kommunikatsiya v sfere zdorov'ya kak vid sotsial'noi kommunikatsii [Risk-communication in the sphere of health as a sort of social communication]. Diskussiya, 2017, vol. 75, no. 1, pp. 50–55 (in Russian).
  7. Handbook of health communication. In: T.L. Thompson, A. Dorsey, K. Miller eds. Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publ., 2003, pp. 47–53.
  8. Wiener N. Cybernetics. New York, John Wiley, 1948, 19 p.
  9. Kuz'min K.V., Semenova E.V., Petrova L.E., Zakroeva A.G. Kommunikatsiya vracha i patsienta: proshloe,nastoyashchee, budushchee [Communications between a doctor and a patients: past. present, and future]. Ekaterinburg, Izdatel'stvo UGMU Publ., 2016, pp. 119–130 (in Russian).
  10. Nazarova I.B. Vzaimootnosheniya vrach-patsient: pravovye i sotsial'nye aspekty ["Doctor-patient" interrelation. Legal and social aspects]. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya, 2004, no. 7, pp. 142–147 (in Russian).
  11. Elektronnoe zdravookhranenie v Evropeiskom regione [Electronic health care in Europe]. Vsemirnaya organizatsiya zdravookhraneniya: ofitsial'nyi sait. Available at: http://www.euro.who.int/ru/health-topics/Health-systems/e-health (06.06.2018) (in Russian).
  12. Tarasenko E.A. Patient 2.0: kommunikatsii patsientov i vrachei v sotsial'nykh setyakh [Patient 2.0: communications between patients and doctors in social networks]. XIII Mezhdunarodnaya nauchnaya konferentsiya po problemam razvitiya ekonomiki i obshchestva. In: E.G. Yasin ed. Moscow, Izdatel'skii dom NIU VShE Publ., 2012, part 3, pp. 204 (in Russian).
  13. Dmitrieva E.V. Sotsiologiya zdorov'ya: metodologicheskie podkhody i kommunikatsionnye programmy [Sociology of health: methodological approaches and communication programs]. Moscow, Izd-vo Tsentr publ., 2002, pp. 184–190 (in Russian).
  14. Brewin T. Truth, trust and paternalism. Health and disease. In: B. Davey, A. Gray eds. Buckingham Philadelphia, Open University Press Publ., 1995, pp. 327–331.
  15. Yakovleva I.V. Kommunikatsiya v sfere zdravookhraneniya: upravlencheskii aspekt [Communications in Healthcare: The Administrative Aspect]. Gosudarstvennoe upravlenie. Elektronnyi vestnik, 2016, no. 59, pp.168–188 (in Russian).
  16. Zaitseva N.V., Barg A.O. Risk-kommunikatsiya kak instrument upravleniya vospriyatiem riskov zdorov'yu naseleniya, svyazannykh s zagryazneniem sredy obitaniya [Risk-communication as an instrument of health risk perception management]. Zdorov'e sem'i – 21 vek, 2014, no. 4, pp. 36–48 (in Russian).
  17. Barg A.O., Lebedeva-Nesevrya N.A. Risk-kommunikatsiya kak mekhanizm formirovaniya adekvatnoi otsenki riskov dlya zdorov'ya naseleniya [Risk-communication as an effective way of producing the cumulative acceptability of human health risks]. Zdorov'e naseleniya i sreda obitaniya, 2014, vol. 261, no. 12, pp. 9–11 (in Russian).
  18. Healthy People 2010 Final Review. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: National Center for Health Statistics. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/healthy_people/hp2010/hp2010_final_review.htm (06.06.2018).
  19. Health communication campaigns. Centers for decease control and prevention. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/campaigns/index.html (06.06.2018).
  20. Barg A.O., Lebedeva-Nesevrya N.A. Risk-kommunikatsiya v sisteme analiza professional'nykh riskov zdorov'yu rabotnikov promyshlennogo predpriyatiya [Risk communication in analysis of occupational health risk for industrial workers]. Meditsina truda i promyshlennaya ekologiya, 2015, no. 8, pp. 28–33 (in Russian).
  21. Natsional'nyi monitoring zdorov'ya rossiyan [National monitoring over population health in Russia]. Vserossiiskii tsentr izucheniya obshchestvennogo mneniya: ofitsial'nyi sait. Available at: https://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=922 (10.06.2018) (in Russian).
  22. Kommunikatsionnye programmy [Communication programs]. Zdorov'e i razvitie: ofitsial'nyi sait fonda. Available at: http://www.fzr.ru/programs.html (06.06.2018) (in Russian).
  23. Rimal R.N., Lapinski M.K. Why health communication is important in public health. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2009, vol. 87, pp. 247–247. DOI: 10.2471/BLT.08.056713. Available at: http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/4/08-056713/en/ (07.06.2018).
  24. Vizgalov D.V. Metody otsenki munitsipal'nykh program [Techniques for municipal programs assessment]. Moscow, Fond «Institut ekonomiki goroda» publ., 2004, 108 p. (in Russian).
  25. Corcoran N. Theories and models in communicating health messages. London, Sage Publications publ., 2007, pp. 15–21.
  26. Ajzen Icek The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 1991, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 179–211.
  27. Averin Yu.P., Dmitrieva E.V. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya: mesto i rol' v kommunikativnykh kampaniyakh, metodologiya i metodika provedeniya [Sociological research: their role in communication campaigns, methodology and techniques of their conducting]. Moscow, Fond «Zdorovaya Rossiya» publ., 2006, pp. 46 (in Russian).
Received: 
31.05.2018
Accepted: 
15.06.2018
Published: 
30.06.2018

You are here