Health and Science Communication

ATSDR: A Primer on Health Risk Communication Principles and Practices: The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (CDC) - "The purpose of this Primer is to provide a framework of principles and approaches for the communications of health risk information to diverse audiences. It is intended for ATSDR staff and personnel …."
AlphaGalileo: Euorpean research news - "AlphaGalileo is an Internet-based press centre for European research in science, medicine, technology, the arts and humanities.…The service operates as a single shop window for the press offices of European research bodies."
American Academy of Health Behavior (AAHB): A Society of Researchers and Scholars in Health Behavior, Health Education and Health Promotion
American Academy on on Communication in Healthcare: "The American Academy on Communication in Healthcare (formerly American Academy on Physician and Patient) has dedicated more than 25 years to research, education, and professional standards in patient-doctor communication."
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): "”Triple A-S” (AAAS), is an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing science around the world by serving as an educator, leader, spokesperson and professional association. In addition to organizing membership activities, AAAS publishes the journal Science, as well as many scientific newsletters, books and reports, and spearheads programs that raise the bar of understanding for science worldwide."
American Association for Health Education (AAHE): "The American Association for Health Education serves health educators and other professionals who promote the health of all people. AAHE encourages, supports, and assists health professionals concerned with health promotion through education and other systematic strategies."
American Public Health Association: Home of the Nation's Health and the American Journal of Public Health, an online bookstore with the largest collection of public health books on the Web, Legislative issues and advocacy information, and a solid collection of public health links.
American Medical Writers Association: "The mission of the American Medical Writers Association is to promote excellence in medical communication and to provide educational resources that support that goal."
Anatomy and Governmentality: A Foucauldian Perspective on Death and Medicine in Modernity: Thomas F. Tierney essay in Theory & Event 2:1. "In this essay I will examine Foucault's early analysis of the origin of modern medicine, and indicate how it complements his later work on governmentality in ways that are quite helpful in uncovering the juridico-medical complex of modernity."
Annenberg Public Policy Center: Health Communication Research: PDF reports on domestic violencee, suicide, drinking, smoking & drug use.
Association for the Behavioral Sciences and Medical Education: "an interdisciplinary professional society dedicated to strengthening behavioral science teaching in medical schools, residency programs, and in continuing medical education."
Association of Health Care Journalists: "AHCJ is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing public understanding of health care issues. Its mission is to improve the quality, accuracy and visibility of health care reporting, writing and editing. We have many resources on our Web site and will be launching an even more robust site with more original content." --Pia Christensen
Australian Science Communicators (ASC): "…a national association of over 400 journalists, editors, scientists, engineers, educators, and communicators committed to the communication of science and technology."
Bayer Institue for Health Care Communication: "The mission of the Bayer Institute For Health Care Communication is to enhance the quality of health care by improving the communication between clinician and patient through three major activities: education, research, and advocacy."
Biocommunications Association: "BCA membership is international in scope, and made up of professionals who create and use the highest quality images and presentations in visual communications media for teaching and documentation in the life sciences and medicine."

Cafe Scientifique: " a forum for debating science issues, not a shop window for science. We are committed to promoting public engagement with science and to making science accountable."
Cafe Scientifique, Iowa City: "Café Scientifique of Iowa City is held at the Cottage Bakery and Cafe in downtown Iowa City on the second Thursday of the month from September to May.… Organized and managed by Vincent Rodgers. The co-organizers are Usha Balakrishnan, Debra Pughe and Dale Stille."
Canadian Science Writers' Association: "The CSWA web site provides information about what we are, our constitution and mandate, our members, membership categories, news and coming events, articles from our quarterly newsletter, Science Link, and links to other science-related sites."
Center for Anthropology and Science Communication, The: "…facilitates improved communications between anthropologists, the public, and science media."
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Office of Communication: Health statistics, disease and health topics index, and a selection of pubications in addition to information about the CDC, press releases, press summaries, the history of the CDC and so on.
CDC: Media and Health Communication: "This section will address issues associated with the media and developing communication plans." In other words, press releases from the CDC, much of it devoted to anthrax, post Sept. 11, 2001.
Communication Initiative, The: "Improvoing strategic communication thinking on development issues." An international partnership of organizations, including the World Health Organization, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, USAID, and other organizations concerned with health issues, especially, but not limited to HIV/AIDS.
Communicating the Future: Best Practices for Communication of Science and Technology to the Public. Proceedings of a 2002 conference at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD.
Communicating Science News: A Guide for public information officers, scientists and physicians prepared and distributed by The National Association of Science Writers.
Communicating Science to the Public: A Handbook for Researchers. Produced by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Concil of Canada.
Complex Dynamics of Scientific Communication, The: Loet Leydesdorff draws on systems and complexity theories to argue that "the concept of a 'unity of science' can … be replaced with a dynamic within and among the sciences."
The Council of Science Edtiors: Of particular interest is the extensive list of resource links as well as their Guidelines Series of pamphlets on poster sessions, editing science graphs, grant proposals, etc.
Cross Cultural Health Care Program, The: "Through a combination of cultural competency trainings, interpreter trainings, research projects, community coalition building, and other services, the CCHCP serves as a bridge between communities and health care institutions to ensure full access to quality health care that is culturally and linguistically appropriate."
Cybernetics - Complexity - Complex Systems: A selection of articles, papers and web sites discussing systems theory, complexity, cybernetics and related ideas.
End of Life/Palliative Education Resource Center: "End of Life/Palliative Care EOL/PC education is broad-based and includes cognitive, affective, and psychomotor objectives relevant to health professional education. "
EurekaAlert: "Your Global Gateway to Science, Medicine, and Technology News." A vast listing of links to newspapers, magazines, journals, science writers groups, institutions, and images.
Family Health International: This NGO "works to improve reproductive and family health around the world through biomedical and social science research, innovative health service delivery interventions, training and information programs." Many publications and training materials available here, especially on HIV/AIDS and family planning.
Foundation for Education, Science and Technology (FEST): This South African Web site has a particularly good set of links to science & communication resources.
Glossary of Health Communication Terms: A resource provided for masters students in health communication, Emerson College and Tufts University School of Medicine.
Healthcare Collaborator, The: "a monthly online newsletter offering you the communication strategies you need to build better working relationships with the people you count on most: your colleagues! … specifically designed for health care professionals." Topics range "from negotiation strategies to intercultural communication."
Healthcare Communication Project: "We are guided by a vision of a healthcare system where a strong commitment to collaboration -- on the parts of both healthcare professionals and patients -- promotes the best possible outcomes of healthcare services."
Health and Science Communications Association: "International in scope and diverse in background, our members broadly describe themselves as biomedical communicators."
Health Communication (Journal): Lawrence Erlbaum - Has a sample issue online
HealthCOMM - Health Communication Division of the National Communication Association: Information about the organization, links to health communication sites, long list of schools that offer courses (not necessarily degrees) in health communication.

Health Communication Research Institute, Inc.: A for-profit organization that offers courses to medical professionals, especially those in Managed Care.
Health Communication Unit, The: At the Centre for Health Promotion, University of Toronto - features a particularly good "Information and Resources" section.
Healthy People 2010: Health Communication: Chapter 11 of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services publiction. Describes the field, issues and trends, disparities, and objectives -- including efforts to increase the number of households with access to the Internet at home which is "a main channel for information delivery" for many health care organizations.
Hardin Directory of Internet Health Sources: Widely recognized as one of the best collections of medical and health resources on the Web, this gateway is produced by the University of Iowa's Hardin Library for the Health Sciences.
Health Headlines - Yahoo/Reuters/AP: Click on headlines to go to full stories on current health and medical topics.
Jekyll.comm: International Journal on Science Communication "In Jekyll.comm, each article undergoes multidisciplinary peer-reviewing by experts belonging to different areas of competence such as science, communication and theory of communication."
Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs: A wide variety of health communication publications from all over the world, including poster campaigns against female genital mutilation, HIV/AIDS, child survival and more.
JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Journal of Health Communication: Tables of Contents available to all, full text of articles available to subscribers only.
Kaiser Family Foundation: See especially the "Entertainment Media Studies" selection on the left-hand menu -- many reports on studies on the impact of various media and media content in regard to health issues.
Making Health Communication Programs Work: A planner's guide: From the NIH - The role of communication in disease prevention and control; relevant health education, mass communication and social marketing theories, models, and practices; what evaluation is, and how it fits into communication programs; all helath communication programs are not alike.
Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellows Program: "This highly competitive program strengthens the connections between scientists and journalists by placing advanced science, mathematics and engineering students in newsrooms across the country. The AAAS Fellows use their academic training in the sciences as they research, write, and report today's headlines, sharpening their abilities to communicate complex scientific issues to non-specialists."
Medical Interview Teaching Association (United Kingdom): Clinical communication skills, learning and teaching. MITA runs "residential courses on communication and teaching of communication for doctors and those working in healthcare education."

National Association of Science Writers (NASW): A U.S. association. Membership information, includes "Advice for Beginning Science Writers" and "How to Keep Readers -- and Editors -- Interested in Science Stories", records of two discussions on their listserv, "The End of Science Writing" a lecture by Professor Jon Franklin, U.Md,
National Center of Cultural Competence (NCCC): "The mission of the National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) is to increase the capacity of health and mental health programs to design implement, and evaluate culturally and linguistically competent service delivery systems."
National Institutes of Health: Publications and other health information, news, grants information scientific resources, institutes and offices of the NIH.
Patient Education and Counseling: Official Journal of EACH, the European Association for Communication in Healthcare and AAPP, the American Academy on Physician and Patient
Primer on Health Risk Communication Principles and Practices, A: Written for health practicioners by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Programs in Public Understanding of Science: "A program of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. The service puts journalists in touch with reputable sources of scientific information." Includes "SciStacks" a jouried list of links to science sites.

Project for Rural Health Communication and Information Technology: A detailed report on a project by the Monash University (Australia) School of Rural Health.
Psci-com: A British "gateway to Public Engagement with Science. … psci-com offers free access to a searchable catalogue of Internet sites covering public engagement in science, science communication and the interpretation of science in society."
Regarding a Critical Rhetoric: Spring 2000 issue of Janus Head devoted to rhetoric and science
Reporting on Health: a new Web 2.0 community for journalists covering health funded by The California Endowment
Rhetoric of Science: Article by Randy Harris, University of Wateroo, Canada, author of Landmark Essays in Rhetoric of Science.
Rhetoric, Science, and the Rhetoric of Science: An Exercise in Interdisciplinarity: Article in Janus Head by Margaret Hamilton, U. of Minnesota
Science and the Public (PDF): A Review of Science Communication and Public Attitudes to Science in Britain - full report available as a pdf file.
Science Cafes.org: Science cafés are live events that involve a face-to-face conversation with a scientist about current science topics. They are open to everyone and take place in casual settings like pubs and coffeehouses.
Science Communication: An Interdisciplinary Social Science Journal: "Science Communication unites international scholarly exploration of three broad but interrelated topics: Communication within research communities - Communication of scientific and technical information to the public - Science and Technology communications policy."
SciPICH - Science Panel on Interactive Communication and Health: An independent body convened by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services devoted to " the interaction of an individual--consumer, patient, caregiver, or professional—with an electronic device or communication technology to access or transmit health information or to receive guidance on a health-related issue."
Society for Technical Communication: Members include technical writers, editors, graphic designers, multimedia artists, and others whose work involves making technical information understandable and available.
Sound Partners for Community Health: "Using Public Radio to Solve Health Issues in Local Communities" -- a program of the Benton Foundation.
STEMPRA: The Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine Public Relations Association
Sutton Group: Solutions for Social Change - acquired by American Institutes for Research: A social marketing firm - look for case studies, many on health issues.

UC Santa Cruz Science Communication Program: Two divisions: writing (journalism) and illustration - both are one year programs.
Virtual Hospital: The Apprentice's Assistant: "The Virtual Hospital is a digital health sciences library created in 1992 at the University of Iowa to help meet the information needs of health care providers and patients. The goal of the Virtual Hospital digital library is to make the Internet a useful medical reference and health promotion tool for health care providers and patients. The Virtual Hospital digital library contains hundreds of books and brochures for health care providers and patients."
Who's Misunderstanding Whom? (slow loading, be patient): An Inquiry Into the Relationship Between Science and the Media by Ian Hargreaves "presents an agenda of current issues for examination by social science researchers, science policy experts, the media and scientists."
World Health Organization

Some Schools with Health Communication Programs

Other Resources

The Rosalynn Carter Fellowhip for Mental Health Journalism

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Communication Studies Resources is compiled and maintained by Karla-Tonella@uiowa.edu
Questions about the Department of Communication Studies should go to commstudies-inquiry@uiowa.edu
Copyright © 1994-2005 Karla Tonella. All rights reserved. Page updated April 29, 2009