ABSTRACT
Our experience of health and illness is shaped by our personal background, social networks, cultural context, and community affi liations. We undertook this edited volume because we believe communication processes are a link between personal, social, cultural, and institutional factors and various facets of health and illness. For example, social networks and the social support they can provide are associated with mortality, morbidity, recovery, and coping with illness (for reviews, see Cohen, Underwood, & Gottlieb, 2000; Sarason, Sarason, & Gurung, 1997). Communication constructs and maintains networks and is one of the chief means through which information, aid, and emotional support are sought and provided (for review, see Albrecht & Goldsmith, 2003). Likewise, there is substantial evidence that the quality of interactions with health care providers affects health outcomes, provider-patient relationships, and patients’ satisfaction (for reviews, see Brown, Stewart, & Ryan, 2003; Roter & Hall, 2006; Sans-Corrales et al., 2006; Suarez-Almazor, 2004) and that interventions to improve provider-patient interactions can improve communication skills and outcomes (for reviews, see Cegala & Broz, 2003; Griffi n et al., 2004; Haywood, Marshall, & Fitzpatrick, 2006).
