Cultural Conceptions of Health and Illness

Catalog description

Culture affects every relationship dynamic, the way nonverbal communication is interpreted, how audiences are selected for health campaigns, the ability and willingness to use technology, and the way bad news is broken to individuals and families. In health communication, culture comprises both the general conceptions of what culture is – the characteristics of a particular social, ethnic, or age group – as well as other factors. This class will examine the specific variables of culture in this setting, how the variables are both unique and interconnected, and the wide-reaching impact culture has in health. The first half of the course explores the variables that culture includes. The latter part of the course takes these variables and demonstrates the roles they play in real-world health communication settings.