ABSTRACT
Health communication is a central process that performs essential functions in the delivery of health care and the promotion of public health. The United States Department of Health and Human Services highlights the powerful influences of communication on public health in the important publicationHealthyPeople 2010:Objectives for ImprovingHealth (1999), with a chapter dedicated to health communication (chapter 11). The chapter describes the breadth of influence that communication can have on health, explaining:
It is a very exciting time for health communication inquiry, and communication is a potentially propitious area for public health research and intervention.
