University of Oklahoma

The Department of Communication at the University of Oklahoma offers diversified courses in the area of health communication. Our close working relationships with OU’s Health Sciences Center and area hospitals provide both faculty and graduate students with great opportunities to collaborate with health care providers and to develop research projects that have theoretical, practical, and social significance. The faculty members and students in health communication hold regular meetings to discuss research opportunities and join research efforts. Because the department has received high rankings in the NCA 2004 Doctoral Reputational Study in various fields (e.g., health, intercultural, interpersonal, small group, mass and political communication), the department also presents unparalleled opportunities for faculty members and students to collaborate and develop career paths that meet their individual objectives. In short, the Department offers courses, research opportunities, and practical experiences that support ambitious investigation in the broad field of health communication.

Back to the Top

Graduate Faculty involved in Health Communication Research  

Elaine Hsieh http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/H/I-Ling.Hsieh-1/
Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Research Areas: Cross-Cultural Health Care, Provider-Patient Communication, Medical Interpreting, Bilingual Health Communication
Teaching Areas: Interpersonal Communication, Health Communication in Intercultural Contexts.  

Claude Miller

Ph.D., University of Arizona
Research Areas: Adolescent Health Risk Prediction and Message Design, Effects of Mortality Salience on Health Message Reacceptance, Emotion & Health
Teaching Areas: Affective Processes, Persuasion, Social Influence, Comm & Emotion, Health Communication, Persuasion Campaigns.

Norman Wong http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/W/Norman.Wong-1/

Ph.D., University of Georgia
Research areas: Health communication campaigns, social influence and cognition, interpersonal communication
Teaching areas: Research methods, health communication, interpersonal communication, social influence

Back to the Top

Department Requirements

COMM 5003    Quantitative Research Methods
COMM 5013    Introduction to Graduate Studies
COMM 5313    Qualitative Research Methods
COMM 6023    Research Task Force  (6-9 hours)
COMM 6314    History and Theory of Communication

Health Communication Area Requirements

COMM 5263    Health Communication
COMM 5960    Directed Readings
COMM 6423    Communication in Healthcare Organizations
COMM xxxx    Communication in Intercultural Health Contexts (pending)
COMM xxxx    Health Communication in Social Support Groups  (pending)
COMM xxxx    Health Communication Campaigns  (pending)

Health Communication Area Electives

COMM 5113    Nonverbal Communication
COMM 5213    Interpersonal Communication
COMM 5233    Social Change
COMM 5253    Cross-Cultural Communication
COMM 5453    Social Influence
COMM 5553    Persuasion Campaigns
COMM 6970    Affective Processes in Communication

Back to the Top

Dr. Elaine Hsieh's interests focus on the communicative process between various individuals during an illness event. She is particularly interested in issues related to the cross-cultural contexts of health care and illness, which have long histories of social inequality experienced by minority patients and offer ample opportunities to both advance theory and affect social change. She has received NIH funding on improving health literacy and communicative competence for patients with Limited English Proficiency. She also work with several students to investigate cultural dimensions on delivering care to minority patients.

• Providers' Views of the Roles of Medical Interpreters. Grant (#1R03MH76205-01-A1) funded by National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health. Role: Principal Investigator. Period: 09/01/2006-08/31/2009. $146,417.

• Illness as a Coordinated Family Activity: Use of Traditional Chinese Medicine by Elderly Chinese in the United States, Oklahoma Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (OCTSI) Scholar Program funded by the Clinical and Translational Science Award Planning Grant (NIH-NCRR-1 P20 RR023477-01P) and the College of Medicine at the University of Oklahoma-Health Sciences Center. OCTIS scholar: Haiying Kong; Faculty Mentor: Elaine Hsieh. Period: 06/01/2009-07/31/2009.

Dr. Claude Miller is currently researching the roles of sensation seeking and psychological reactance in risk prediction, and in the design of substance messages targeting high-risk adolescent populations. A separate line of research is underway with graduate students and colleagues examining the effects of subliminal mortality salience on health, security, and risk messages. Dr. Miller is also beginning a  related line or research exploring the effects of mortality salience on various life and health issues related to aging.

Dr. Norman Wong's research focuses on three lines of inquiry: (a) Understanding how people process emotional appeals in public health campaigns and their effects on health cognitions and behaviors, (b) looking at issues related to the framing of health risk and health promotion information and their effects on public opinion of health issues, and (c) examining the impact of program and entertainment context on processing of health-related mass mediated messages. Currently, some of the main health concerns I am doing studies on include the HPV vaccination, tobacco control, and childhood obesity.

• Effects of Threat-Oriented and Efficacy-Oriented Antismoking Ads on Smokers’ Intentions to Quit (P50-CA095856-05) funded by NIH/Center of Excellence in Cancer Communication Research, Annenberg – University of Pennsylvania. Co-Principal Investigator: Norman Wong. Period: 06/01/2006-08/31/2007. $10,000.

• HPV Vaccine Assessment Among Choctaw Nation Citizens (5-U01-CA114626-04 Supplemental Funding) funded by Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities/NIH. Co-Principal Investigator: Norman Wong. (Co PIs: Dr. Morris Foster, OU-Norman; Dr. Janis Campbell, OUHSC). Period: 04/10/2009-04/10/2010.$62,123.

• An Investigation of Strategies to Reduce Smoking Among College Students Targeting Both College Smokers and Nonsmokers (OUHSC RS 20091891-01) funded by Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center. Principal Investigator: Norman Wong. Period: 07/01/2009-06/30/2010.$45,138.

Back to the Top