Health Communication research at the Department of Communication addresses the role of the media in the health domain. This line of research operates at the intersection of communication/social science and medicine/public health integrating findings from several neighboring fields, such as medicine, public health, pediatrics, or psychology. Health communication scholars at the Department of Communication develop, advance, and apply communication theory and methodology to contribute to these interdisciplinary research fields.

Research at the Department of Communication focuses on a broad range of health issues such as suicide prevention, smoking cessation, cancer prevention, vaccination, depression, sexually transmitted diseases, and nutrition. Research efforts can be broadly categorized into seven domains: (1) Optimization of public health campaign messages, (2) global health disparities and digital health divide, (3) quality of health-related news, (4) stereotyping and health myths, (5) health-related consequences of new digital media technologies, (6) historical perspective on health communication, and (7) use and effects of health-related content in entertainment media, especially with respect to body satisfaction and nutrition.

In line with our theoretical understanding of the role of the media in the health domain, health communication research at our Department explicitly addresses possible harmful and beneficial consequences on the individual and the societal level, looking at children, teens, and adults.