Health communications degree overview

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) defines health communications as ‘the study and use of communication strategies to inform and influence decisions that enhance health.’ In general, there are four types of contemporary health communication:

Health promotion is the design and development of health campaigns aimed at reaching certain audiences and communicating important health information.

Patient-provider-family caregiver communication focuses on effective and empathetic communication between health practitioners and patients and patients’ families, with the objective of improving quality of care and patient outcomes.

Healthcare interventions combines health promotion and patient-provider-family caregiver communication. It is concerned with changing specific healthcare behavior or addressing a specific healthcare need by developing targeted educational material or conducting discussions involving patients, their advocates, and health professionals.

Health communications technology streamlines the communication process in healthcare through digital services such as mobile health applications and telehealth services, as well as the information technologies that help healthcare organizations operate more efficiently, such as electronic medical records.

Health promotion. Patient-provider-family caregiver communication. Healthcare interventions. Health communications technology. These are the cornerstones of health communications, the mandates of its practitioners, and the foundations of programs in the major.

Bachelor’s Degree in Health Communications – Four Year Duration
At the bachelor’s level, students of health communications learn techniques, technology, and decision-making processes related to health information and communications. They learn to identify and address communication issues in a variety of healthcare settings, so that medical jargon can be translated and accurate information can be easily understood and used for better outcomes.

Here is a snapshot of a typical curriculum:

• Interpersonal Communications – theories and skills of interaction between two people in professional and personal contexts; perception, self-concept, nonverbal communication, listening, assertiveness, relationships, conflict management, and problem solving
• Research Methods in Communication Studies – an overview of the concepts, methods, and tools by which research in communication studies is designed, conducted, and evaluated; examination of quantitative and qualitative research procedures, research question and hypothesis generation and testing, measurement, sampling, research design, and data analysis techniques
• Lifespan Communication – an overview of issues related to communication and aging across the lifespan; the course addresses attitudes about aging, intergenerational and intragenerational communication, enhancing communication with older adults, social construction of the aging process, older adults’ media use, effects of mass media on older adults, health communication and the older adult population; issues concerning communication and technology among older adults
• Health Communications – students learn how health communication operates in their own lives and learn professional health communication skills; students gain a strong understanding of the field and its possibilities through communication theory and strategies; students learn to evaluate health messages for meaningful content
• Patient-Provider Communication – the dynamics of patient-provider interactions in a healthcare setting; a variety of types of medical encounters will be examined with special attention paid to the role of narrative and rhetorical theory when analyzing communication between health providers and their patients
• Health Campaigns – introduction to health campaign planning, implementation, and evaluation; students will work in teams to design, implement, and evaluate a campaign for an outside client organization
• Communication Technology and Health – the role of information communication technology in improving health literacy; understanding electronic medical records, patient-provider electronic interactions, online social support, online consent, privacy management, and health information seeking
• Communication Internship – selected placement of qualified students in off-campus health communication professions
• Science in the Media – analyzing and producing science news content, including information about health, biology, the environment, and technology; students will develop knowledge of the best practices in science reporting, including assessing information for news value, accuracy, and impact and translating jargon into content that will engage an audience
• Public Speaking – the oral communication process, improving oral communication skills, idea and message development, and effective delivery of ideas
• Introduction to Mass Communication – how mass media operate, how people use and create media messages, and how media evolve and influence behavior
• Social Work and the Community – exploration of the social work profession and the needs of diverse client populations; testing and evaluating a commitment to, and a capacity for, working with people
• Healthcare Management – basic applied management functions in the healthcare setting; personnel and patient scheduling; purchasing procedures; budget and quality improvement process; organization relationships and authority
• Principles of Marketing – the flow of goods from producer to consumer; demand-stimulated and demand-fulfilling activities of business enterprises; marketing concepts and systems analysis
• Culture and Communication – culture and communication theory, criticism, and practice; individual experience in communicating cross-culturally; strategies in cross-cultural communication situations
• Communicating Health Policy – public health policy communication and debate; US and global healthcare systems and policies and their impact on health outcomes; the role communication and debate have played in the effectiveness of policies development and implementation
• Abnormal Psychology – symptoms, causes, and treatment of major mental disorders; research methods in psychopathology
• Social Psychology – social perception and social influences on behavior; attribution, attitudes, attraction, aggression, pro-social behavior, compliance, and small groups
• Health Informatics – introduction to concepts and trends in the health informatics field
• Sociocultural Aspects of Health – the role of sociocultural factors in the creation, understanding, and utilization of messages related to health; sociocultural aspects of health as they relate to communication about health disparities; approaches to addressing health disparities within underserved populations
• Aging and Society –the role of the older adult in society; promotion of health, support of continued learning, right to peaceful death; theories of aging and ethical / legal concepts; student experiences with older adults in the community and acute and long-term care settings

Healthcare Administration
This degree field is focused on administration of healthcare policy, services, and facilities. Students learn about healthcare law; healthcare ethics; healthcare economics, finance, and human resources; and long-term care and aging.

Journalism
Journalism degree programs teach students how to report, write, and edit articles for broadcast or publication. They include classes in broadcast news writing, copyediting and design, reporting, and media law and ethics.

Mass Communication and Media Studies
Degree programs in mass communication and media studies are concerned with the critical study of communication and media. The typical curriculum explores topics like communication infrastructure, as well as issues in communication from all of these perspectives: social, cultural, historical, political, economic, technological, and legal.

Public Administration
Public administration degree programs teach students how to make and direct policy at various levels of government. These policies can involve a wide spectrum of public concerns, from healthcare to social programs to the environment. Typical courses for public administration students include community analysis, economic development, grant writing, local politics and administration, organization theory, public budgeting and financial administration, public policy, structure of government, volunteerism and the non-profit sector.

Communication is at the heart of human existence. Therefore, it is not exaggeration to say that the knowledge gained by students who earn a degree in health communications is transferable to – and welcome in – most every industry. Consider these useful skills that graduates take from this course of study:

• Ability to absorb and summarize new information quickly
• Ability to analyze and integrate data
• Ability to disseminate information accurately
• Ability to learn on the job
• Ability to speak and write in clear and simple language
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team
• Attention to detail
• Digital literacy
• Document design
• Editing
• Ethics
• Interpersonal skills
• Marketing and branding
• Media / social media and marketing savvy
• Objectivity and logical reasoning
• Organization
• Problem-solving
• Public relations skills / press release writing
• Public speaking
• Social and cultural awareness
• Research methods

Whether they specialize in direct patient communication, creating products and campaigns, or using information technology, health communication specialists put their knowledge and skills to use in a wide variety of employment sectors, including:

• Biotechnology companies
• Charitable foundations
• Educational institutions
• Government departments, including local, state, and federal
• Health insurance companies
• Health journalism and media
• Health-related advertising, public relations, marketing, and consulting firms
• Hospitals, medical practices, wellness centers, and senior living organizations
• Large employers with an internal health and wellness program
• Medical device manufacturers
• Non-profit advocacy organizations
• Pharmaceutical manufacturers
• Public health and regulatory agencies, including state, national, and international
• Publishing companies
• Research institutes