Advancing the field of health communication

Over the last few decades, health communication theory and practice have been progressing and embracing new directions, thanks to our increased appreciation of a participatory and people-centered approach to intervention design,^1,2,3 the development of new and integrated communication planning frameworks that have revitalized the field both in the US and globally,^4,5,6,7,8 the advent of new technologies and media, a stronger emphasis on behavioral and social results as key outcomes of communication interventions,^{1,4,5,6,7,8,9,10} the social innovation-driven perspective^1,11 that has infused the field since its inception, and our newly found resolve to address health and social issues within the context of their many determinants.^1,10,12 Well-designed and implemented health communication interventions have been credited with influencing and engaging individuals, communities, organizations, and policymakers on a variety of health and social issues across the globe. All of these developments make for an exciting and challenging field.

So, what is next for health communication? The first words that come to mind are ‘increased collaboration’. Despite progress on platforms and support for cross-sectoral communication efforts (for example, across the fields of public health, healthcare, community development, global health, science, and others), too many partnerships and exchanges are still relying solely on the goodwill and hard work of the professionals who pursue them. It is true that the Internet and new media have increased access to resources and online networks such as The Communication Initiative Network (www.comminit.com) and the Springboard for Health Communication Professionals of the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) (http:// www.healthcommcapacity.org/springboard/). Yet, while these and others are very valuable resources, which we invite you to explore and use, how many of these online interactions actually lead to partnerships? Somehow there are still many silos, not only among different sectors, but also among similar kinds of organizations or different communication functions within the same organization. These silos may affect our ability to take advantage of useful synergies or consider, for example, how key lessons from a participatory and community-based approach to global health communication or risk communication may influence a human-centered approach to intervention design in clinical or health system-related settings. Bridging silos among different sectors (within and outside the field of health communication) may contribute to increase the pace and effectiveness of the social innovation and public engagement processes communication is leading or should lead on a variety of health and social issues. As someone who has been working, writing, and building community and organizational capacity on strategies for multisectoral partnerships for most of my career, I know that partnership development and management (both outside and within health communication settings) is both of an art and a science as well as an evolving topic that should be further emphasized by undergraduate and graduate programs, and different kinds of organizations.

Many partnerships-related experiences don't make the news or scientific publications, and yet, they can contribute to our overall knowledge base on this topic. Therefore, we invite our readers and authors to write to [email protected] with your experiences, success stories, opinions, plans, and short commentaries on advancing cross-sectoral and community-driven partnerships for health communication interventions. We will strive to publish those Letters that highlight success factors, lessons learned and/or ideas for future directions, so that your experiences and ideas can inspire and benefit our broader community. For additional information on the required format of all short pieces in our Letters: Viewpoints on Current Issues section, please visit www.maneyonline.com/loi/cih. Of course, if you have been working more extensively on this topic, we welcome the submission of relevant papers for consideration by our Journal.

This issue of the Journal of Communication in Healthcare: Strategies, Media, and Engagement in Global Health, includes a special themed section on health literacy, which was initiated with the much appreciated input of editorial board member Rima Rudd, who also authored an Inside Commentary on this topic. It also features Inside Commentaries by editorial board members Michaela Liuccio on gender, health, and communication and Mark Duman on outcome evaluation of patient communication and engagement interventions. We believe these topics, and of course many others, are central to advancing health communication in the twenty-first century. With the increased cultural and ethnic diversity of many populations, especially within urban settings, issues of gender and health literacy are progressively intersecting, and may bear significant differences across different groups. Communication should be tailored also to address gender roles, preferences and needs, and health literacy levels, as these are important precursors of patient, community, stakeholder, and public engagement on the health and social issues of our times. Of equal importance, we need specific measures and unequivocal models for the evaluation of patient communication interventions. With the increased emphasis on patient-centered healthcare, we need better measures and increased reporting on the impact of patient communication and engagement on clinical and quality of life outcomes. This is another key topic for which the Journal is seeking your submissions so that together we can continue to stir the debate on how to design and evaluate participatory interventions for patient engagement!

Finally, we need to bridge silos among developed and economically developing nations. There are many great experiences in developing countries that are never published or shared with the international community. It is the intention of this Journal in 2015 to help lead a much needed conversation on how we can increase submissions and publications from countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America whose communication models, experiences, and results could greatly inform interventions in other countries. For that to occur we need to think about formats and processes that would meet the research methods, needs and specificities of such countries, so that our global community can celebrate their efforts and successes and build upon their lessons learned. I look forward to engaging in this debate with other like-minded publications and organizations, as well as researchers and institutions from African, Asian and Latin American countries. Stay tuned on some upcoming initiatives by our Journal in 2015!

While there are many other topics to be considered in advancing health communication, I hope that the ones I chose to mention in this editorial will energize you all in thinking about your own ideas for advancing our field. Wishing you success on all of your endeavors in 2015!