Health Communication

Catalog description

Provides experience in making decisions about planning, implementing, and evaluating communication in community-based health campaigns to achieve health promotion/education. CAS 557 CAS 557 Health Communication (3) This is a graduate seminar designed to provide students with a comprehensive overview of health communication in community-based health campaigns. Health messages are a pervasive feature of contemporary American life. The study of health communication for community-based campaigns overviews strategies for informing, motivating, and selling ideas and behaviors based on health and health care. Students will select a target community and topic to use as a focal point for applying course readings. Students will prepare an evaluation plan for assessing policymakers' involvement in your health topic. This should include projection of the need for policymakers' involvement, using as many archival materials as possible to conduct a formative evaluation of the need and a plan to obtain the additional information needed to identify the gaps between current and projected levels of involvement. Students will also assess previous efforts to involve lay and expert communities in health promotion efforts associated with their topic, and summarize findings, preparing an organizational membership roster for both Expert Advisory Board and Community Steering Committee, and providing a mission statement to be used in recruitment. Provide a draft of a commitment contract to be signed by board and committee members. Students will also examine previous efforts to involve educational institutions, and lay and expert providers in promotion efforts, summarizing findings and developing a vision of how these audiences should be and could be involved. Previous efforts to involve businesses, retailers, and family in promotion efforts will also be assessed, with development of a vision of how these audiences should be and could be involved included. The health communication seminar complements students' interests in pursuing academic, political, counseling, pastoral, business, health, management, public relations, advertising, sales, and other career ambitions where community-based campaigns comprise an important focus.