Overview back to top

The School of Communication at The Ohio State University provides Masters and Doctoral students with thorough theoretical and methodological training in communication, with the ability to specialize in health communication. Faculty and graduate students maintain interdisciplinary linkages with Public Health, Human and Community Resource Development, Oncology, Pediatrics, and the Ohio Department of Health, among others. Colloquia of the Health Communication Research Group feature research presentations and discussions of theoretical and methodological issues. Recent and ongoing research includes an NIH-funded project focusing on how breast cancer patients use media technology to track side effects; an NIAAA-funded project examining news reporting on the role of alcohol in health and safety risks in U.S. media; an intervention designed to help patients prepare for a doctor’s appointment and communicate effectively with their physician; and the development of a community-based intervention to improve acceptance of the human papilloma virus vaccine in Appalachia, funded by the Provost’s office. Teaching and research assistantships available.

Courses back to top

COMM 636.01: Health communication in Interpersonal ContextsStudy of communication relevent to health care in various face-to-face contexts. (Introductory course for graduate students and senior undergraduates).

COMM 636.02: Health Communication in Mass Mediated ContextsOverview in theory and research into the role of mass media as they affect the public’s health behavior. (Introductory course for graduate students and senior undergraduates).

COMM 638: Communication and e-HealthFocuses on the current and future uses of technology in health communication.

COMM 870: Media Campaigns and HealthThis seminar is intended for graduate students concerned with how mediated communication can influence human behavior and public policy in ways that can improve human health and well-being. (Graduate seminar).

COMM 871: Health Communication in Interpersonal SettingsThis course focuses on research and theories comprising contemporary literature in health communication in interpersonal settings. (Graduate seminar).

Faculty back to top

Summary of Department Research back to top

Tailored Messages During Chemotherapy
In this project, patients undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer are encouraged to keep a side effects diary on a PDA. Researchers from our Health Communication Research Group helped design a computer application that tracks patient reports of side effects and triggers appropriate intervention video clips that provide patient communication tips on how to explain the side effects to the physician. A printed report of the side effect profile is presented to the physician during the patient’s clinic visits. This interdisciplinary project involves collaboration among researchers from communication, oncology, and public health. This project is funded by the NIH.

Kidney Foundation Project
Dr. Roberto is currently working on three projects for the National Kidney Foundation of Ohio’s "Know Your Kidney Score" campaign. The first study is designed to determine the types of messages that will be most likely to increase primary care physicians’ use of a new test for chronic kidney disease. The second and third studies are designed to evaluate the effects of a large-scale media campaign implemented in seven mid-Ohio counties (one study is focusing on the effects of the campaign on the general population, while the other study looks at the effects of the campaign on primary care physicians).

Physician Patient Communication (PACE)
The patient web site consists of an empirically tested intervention designed to help patients prepare for a doctor's appointment and communicate effectively with their physician. The intervention is called PACE, an acronym for presenting information, asking questions, checking on understanding, expressing concerns. Three published studies testing the effectiveness of the PACE System are included on the web site. Since PACE was initially developed it has been adapted to health care contexts beyond primary care. For example, it has been adapted for federally funded projects on menopause, end stage cancer, and breast cancer. It has been used as the basis for a communication intervention for congestive heart failure patients and for pediatricians and their patients' parents. Additionally, the PACE web site is linked to several medical centers including OSU, the University of Illinois, and Harvard Medical School. The PACE web site address has been shared with scores of medical professionals in the United States and in numerous other countries and, as a result, has been made accessible to countless patients.

Drug Prevention
Community Action for Drug Prevention, now in its eighth year, explores a combination of school- and community-based media for prevention of drug and alcohol uptake among middle-school age youth, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. It focuses on the inconsistency of substance use with youth aspirations for autonomy and engagement. In the initial 5-year project, schools in communities receiving the intervention reported increases in uptake among students over a 2-year period that were about half that of control communities/schools.

Media and Alcohol Risk Perceptions
Media and Alcohol Risk Perceptions, funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, seeks to comprehensively examine the presence of reporting on the role of alcohol in health and safety risks in the U.S. local and national news media. It includes a comprehensive sample of U.S. local and national news coverage, a national probability survey of U.S. adults and teens regarding media use and perceptions of alcohol-related risks, and experimental research on the impact of the presence and absence of such news coverage. Other research tapping this unique collection of news coverage, largely conducted in collaboration with graduate students, includes studies of cancer and tobacco coverage, coverage of cancer survivorship, content of opinion pieces, and coverage of crime, suicide, and intimate partner violence, with a particular focus on the role of alcohol and other drugs as addressed in such coverage.

Intervention to Improve HPV Vaccine Acceptance in Appalachia
A major funded line of research on a timely topic, the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine, this research focuses on a population with unduly high cervical cancer rates. Funding was awarded from Population and Health Targeted Investment in Excellence initiative with funds provided by the Provost's Office.

Contacts back to top