Health Ecologies in Addiction Treatment: Rhetoric of Health and Medicine and Conceptualizing Care

ABSTRACT

This study explored the introduction of an ecological care model into a women’s alcohol-and-other-drug treatment facility. When patients learned that their health resembled a network of factors including demographics, health experiences, and their own health literacy, they approached addiction as a problem that required complex solutions. The authors present a methodology derived from rhetoric of health and medicine scholarship and the medical humanities that may help patients improve mental health literacy and treatment outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Action research
• design of communication
• health/medical communication
• rhetoric of science
• workplace studies

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Katie Lynn Walkup

Katie Lynn Walkup is a PhD student in rhetoric and composition at the University of South Florida. Her research focuses on rhetoric of health and medicine, advocacy, and new media.

Peter Cannon

Peter Cannon is a PhD student in rhetoric and composition at the University of South Florida. His research interests are rhetoric of health and medicine, library science, and technical communication.