The invisible helping hand: The role of communication in the health and social service professions

Communication research in the health and social service professions is delimited and discussed. Research areas include: doctor‐patient communication; nurse‐patient communication; communication with the elderly and in health organizations; health information acquisition and health campaigns; and communication concerns of social workers and family counselors. Overall, the research tends to be problem‐oriented, but simplistically conceptualized. As a result, it does not provide enough assistance to the professional. The research appears to reveal a prejudice of the researchers, as well—the blame for problematic interaction lies with the professional rather than the dyad. The small amount of research in the social services may be due to the lack of interest of communicologists in the problems facing, as Hubert Humphrey called them, those in the shadows of life.