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University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignDepartment of Communication |
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People facing illness or trying to maintain good mental or physical health face many challenges: making decisions about treatments and other courses of action, managing uncertainty about their future or the trajectory of an illness, coping with large volumes of information containing potentially conflicting advice, and responding to changes in their identities and relationships as a consequence of illness. And changes in the U.S. healthcare system add to the communication challenges confronting patients and provider alike. Faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign conduct research on the associations between (a) communication and (b) mental or physical health, including how communication affects and is affected by health and illness. This research is conducted from interpersonal, organizational, and mass-mediated perspectives. The graduate program leading to master and doctoral degrees in health communication includes a broad array of courses from these different perspectives within the Department Communication. In addition, graduate coursework may include classes from other outstanding departments on campus, including Psychology, Community Health, Kinesiology, Social Work, and the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences. In the Fall of 2010, the Department launched one of the nation’s first online master’s degree programs in health communication. Completely virtual and asynchronous, the program allows students anywhere in the world to take advantage of the expertise of the faculty at Illinois in attaining a Master of Science degree in Health Communication in two years. Learn more at http://www.communication.illinois.edu/healthcomm/. |
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Graduate Faculty involved in Health Communication Research John P. Caughlin (Ph.D., University
of Texas): Interpersonal and family communication; effects
of parent-child communication on health risk behaviors Jennifer Kam (Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University): Interpersonal health communication; cultural stressors; adolescents and risky behaviors; family- and friend-based protective resources Leanne Knoblock (Ph.D., University
of Wisconsin): Interpersonal communication in close
relationships, relationship development, relational
uncertainty, and interdependence within romantic
relationships Marian Huhman (Ph.D., University of
Washington): Public health communication, social marketing
approaches, evaluation of health communication campaigns John Lammers (Ph.D., University of
California at Davis): Organizational communication; health
communication; work teams in health care settings;
leadership and communication in public health care
Brian Quick (Ph.D., Texas A & M
University): Processing of persuasive health messages;
cognitive and emotional processes that underlie persuasion;
best practices to promote organ donation Barbara J. Wilson (Ph.D., University
of Wisconsin): Social and psychological effects of mass
media; developmental differences in children’s responses to
mass media; children’s emotional and cognitive processing of
mass media; impact of media violence |
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John P. Caughlin’s research focuses on communication in close relationships and families, especially how people manage private information about themselves and those close to them. Much of his work examines how people reveal or conceal information related to health. For example, one recent study examined different ways that people disclose an HIV-positive diagnosis, showing that the way a person reveals this information shapes how others view it. Another recent study investigated how family members coped with the death of a parent to lung cancer. This research revealed that even family members who consider themselves to be very open sometimes have good reasons to avoid certain topics pertaining to cancer and death. Marian Huhman researches how social marketing and communication can be used to change health behaviors. In her research and teaching, she applies methods learned from eight years of experience at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a Health Scientist where she led the evaluation of the VERB campaign. VERB showed that well-funded social marketing effectively convinced kids over a four-year period to be more physically active. The final outcome paper that describes the positive effects of the VERB campaign was published in the American Journal of Public Health in April 2010. John Lammers, with Scott Poole, continues work on a $230,000 National Science Foundation grant entitled, “A Contingency Theory of Organizational Response to Paradoxical Requirements: A Study of Emergency Response Organizations.” Scott Poole is Professor of Communication, Director of the Institute for Computing in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Science and Senior Research Scientist at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. He has conducted research on quality management in healthcare organizations and on health care teams. He currently has two projects funded by the National Science Foundation that deal with emergency management organizations and how they can be coordinated effectively. Brian Quick's research examines media coverage of health issues as well as how individuals process these mediated messages. During the past year, his work has garnered funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to identify best practices to promote organ donation among African-American, Caucasian, and Hispanic-American adolescents. Also, during the past year, Professor Quick received HRSA funding to promote organ donation at driver service facilities in and around Chicago while relying on radio and outdoor advertising, volunteers, and point of decision making materials. |
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David Tewksbury |
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Last Updated September, 2011
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