COMM 4760 - Population Health Communication

Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: COMM 2820.

J. Niederdeppe.

This senior-level undergraduate seminar provides an overview of theory and research on communication related to population health, including strategic efforts to impact health behavior and structural environments that support health, media portrayals of health issues, and news coverage of health and social policy with impacts on the health and distribution of health in populations. Topics include theories of behavior change and message effects, campaigns to improve behavioral and structural determinants of health; the intersection of health and politics; and implications of changes in media platforms for population health campaigns and research.

Outcome 1: Understand major theories that try to explain variation in (a) health-related behavior among individuals and larger social units, and (b) responses to health-related messages designed to promote behavior or policy change.

Outcome 2: Analyze the implications of those theories for the potential role of public health communication in changing behavior.

Outcome 3: Evaluate the credibility of the evidence for the effectiveness of prominent, historical examples of public health communication programs in the US and abroad.

Outcome 4: Evaluate evidence for effects of other forms of public communication relating to health (advertising, news coverage, media programming) on health and policy outcomes.

Outcome 5: Synthesize knowledge and skills learned in outcomes (1) through (4) to develop a systematic review of research in an area of interest.