ABSTRACT
Language plays a significant role in constituting the practices that take place in real-life clinical settings, not only reflecting but also shaping the ways that people think and communicate about health. In this chapter we explore the potential for research of language in healthcare settings to create impact by shaping, and ultimately improving, the ways that health professionals communicate in real-life clinical contexts. Specifically, we evaluate the impact generated by research into the language that adolescents use when seeking health-related advice online. This chapter introduces said research, providing an overview of its aims, methods and findings, and considering the implications that these have for the communicative practices of health professionals and other stakeholders involved in adolescent care. The discussion that follows outlines and critically evaluates the methods through which findings were disseminated to these stakeholders, as well as how impact was defined, ascertained and measured. The discussion offered in this chapter is not only relevant to this specific project, but touches on themes and issues relating to the role of impact and the impact agenda in health communication research generally.
