This book focuses on the complexities of the communication of health-related messages and information through the use of case studies. The expert contributors to this volume are scholars who, during their research and consulting, grapple with many of the issues of concern to those studying health communication. While several introductory books offer brief case studies to illustrate concepts covered, this book provides in-depth cases that enable more advanced students to apply theory to real situations.

This book focuses on the complexities of the communication of health-related messages and information through the use of case studies. The expert contributors to this volume are scholars who, during their research and consulting, grapple with many of the issues of concern to those studying health communication. While several introductory books offer brief case studies to illustrate concepts covered, this book provides in-depth cases that enable more advanced students to apply theory to real situations.

This volume examines this rapidly growing and changing field by applying a unified framework that integrates both interpersonal and mass communication investigations into theoretical and applied issues. br br Using a systems perspective as the organizational framework, relevant issues in the communication of health care, ranging from micro to macro levels, are discussed. The contributors recognize communication as a major factor affecting health today and therefore go beyond examinations of health communication as simply a dissemination of information regarding diseases, diagnoses, and treatments to show it as a much larger and more complex field with applications to all levels and forms of communication. br br Communication and Health has as its three main objecties: br br * providing a comprehensive, detailed, and up to-date picture of health communication br br * applying an integrated, logical structure to the field br br * making a clear, strong statement regarding the state of healthcommunication and examining its future prospects br br The contributors address such issues as provider-patient communication, health care teams, health care organizations, public health campaigns, and health education, and then discuss the factors that affect the processing of health information. Also included are examinations of changes in communication use within interpersonal, small group, and organizational health care contexts as well as the use of mass media and other sources for public health campaigns and for raising public awareness of health issues on a day-to-day basis. br br i Communication and Health /i fills a void in current literature on this field by serving as both a reference forprofessionals and researchers and as a textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate level students in a multitude of courses. br

"Health Communication in Practice: A Case Study Approach" offers a comprehensive examination of the complex nature of health-related communication. Modeled on Eileen Berlin Ray's 1993 volume, "Case Studies in Health Communication," this text contains detailed case studies that demonstrate in-depth applications of communication theory in real-life situations.
With chapters written by medical practitioners as well as communication scholars, the cases included herein cover a variety of topics, populations, contexts and issues in health communication, including:
*provider-recipient communication and its importance to subsequent diagnosis and treatment;
*decision-making;
*social identity, particularly how people redefine and renegotiate their social identity;
*communication dynamics within families and with health care providers through unexpected health situations;
*delivery of health care; and
*health campaigns designed to disseminate health-related information and change behaviors.
Reflecting the changes in health communication scholarship and education over the past decade, chapters also explore current topics such as delivering bad news, genetic testing, intercultural communication, grieving families, and international health campaigns. A list of relevant concepts and definitions is included at the end of each case to help students make connections between the scenario and the communication theories it reflects.
With its breadth of coverage and applied, practical approach, this timely and insightful text will serve as required reading in courses addressing the application of communication theory in a health-related context.

This volume and its companion case studies book deal with some of the people, groups, and classes who are living a disenfranchised existence in the United States. Whether through birth, life events, or unfortunate circumstances, they are denied full privileges, rights, and power within the existing societal structure. Centered around societal health problems as they relate to socioeconomic status, family, abuse, and health concerns, these volumes examine salient issues from several theoretical frameworks, including feminist theory and the social construction of reality.
"Communication and Disenfranchisement" provides theory-based essays on topics such as the homeless, adult survivors of sexual assault, battered women, persons with disabilities, impoverished women, the indigent living in the inner city, persons with HIV/AIDS, the terminally ill, and the elderly.
"Case Studies in Communication and Disenfranchisement" provides parallel case studies, applying the issues and concepts discussed in the essays. Used together, these books provide theoretically-based applications of social health issues within a communication framework.
Traditionally, health communication research has emphasized the communication-physical health relationship. Inadvertently, this primary focus has restricted what information has been included under the domain of health communication. These books expand that domain by examining how the communication-disenfranchisement relationship is accomplished, managed, and overcome, and by recognizing the significance of the pragmatic and theoretic implications of this inquiry.

This volume provides case studies of some of the people, groups and classes who are living a disenfranchised existence in the USA. Whether by birth or unfortunate circumstances, they are denied full privileges.

This volume examines this rapidly growing and changing field by applying a unified framework that integrates both interpersonal and mass communication investigations into theoretical and applied issues.
Using a systems perspective as the organizational framework, relevant issues in the communication of health care, ranging from micro to macro levels, are discussed. The contributors recognize communication as a major factor affecting health today and therefore go beyond examinations of health communication as simply a dissemination of information regarding diseases, diagnoses, and treatments to show it as a much larger and more complex field with applications to all levels and forms of communication.
Communication and Health has as its three main objecties:
* providing a comprehensive, detailed, and up to-date picture of health communication
* applying an integrated, logical structure to the field
* making a clear, strong statementregarding the state of health communication and examining its future prospects
The contributors address such issues as provider-patient communication, health care teams, health care organizations, public health campaigns, and health education, and then discuss the factors that affect the processing of health information. Also included are examinations of changes in communication use within interpersonal, small group, and organizational health care contexts as well as the use of mass media and other sources for public health campaigns and for raising public awareness of health issues on a day-to-day basis.
"Communication and Health" fills a void in current literature on this field by serving as both a reference forprofessionals and researchers and as a textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate level students in a multitude of courses.

"Health Communication in Practice: A Case Study Approach" offers a comprehensive examination of the complex nature of health-related communication. Modeled on Eileen Berlin Ray's 1993 volume, "Case Studies in Health Communication," this text contains detailed case studies that demonstrate in-depth applications of communication theory in real-life situations.
With chapters written by medical practitioners as well as communication scholars, the cases included herein cover a variety of topics, populations, contexts and issues in health communication, including:
*provider-recipient communication and its importance to subsequent diagnosis and treatment;
*decision-making;
*social identity, particularly how people redefine and renegotiate their social identity;
*communication dynamics within families and with health care providers through unexpected health situations;
*delivery of health care; and
*health campaigns designed to disseminate health-related information and change behaviors.
Reflecting the changes in health communication scholarship and education over the past decade, chapters also explore current topics such as delivering bad news, genetic testing, intercultural communication, grieving families, and international health campaigns. A list of relevant concepts and definitions is included at the end of each case to help students make connections between the scenario and the communication theories it reflects.
With its breadth of coverage and applied, practical approach, this timely and insightful text will serve as required reading in courses addressing the application of communication theory in a health-related context.

See blurb for Communication and Disenfranchisement. Books will be promoted together.