Overview back to top

The Department of Communication Arts & Sciences in the College of the Liberal Arts at the Pennsylvania State University offer rigorous training in communication theory and methods as the foundation for graduate education in Health Communication.

The department studies communication as a process from both the humanistic and scientific perspectives, with training in rhetoric and in communication theory. Graduate training in health communication is part of the communication theory side of the department.

We include a seminar in health communication to introduce the unique aspects of health that distinguish health communication from other communication processes. We also include a seminar in disaster communication to introduce the unique aspects of risk that distinguish health communication. The program promotes interdisciplinary linkages with programs in health and human development, including family studies, health policy and administration, and nutrition sciences; bio-behavioral health; and geography. Our work with Geography links Penn State health communication graduate students to leaders in the application of geospatial information sciences to health planning and practice. The University's Children and Youth Initiative affords rich opportunities for collaborative training and research, as does the Gerontology Center. Ongoing programmatic associations with Penn State's College of Medicine provide opportunities for interaction with faculty in health evaluation sciences and members of the Penn State Cancer Institute. The program emphasizes research with the goal of preparing graduates to assume leadership roles in planning, implementing, and evaluating theory-driven health communication research and practice with an awareness of the ethical implications of such activities.

Courses back to top

  Graduate Courses In Communication Theory 

Social Influence [CAS 550]
Interpersonal Communication [CAS 555]
Lifespan Communication [CAS 559]
Health Communication [CAS 557]
Organization Communication [CAS 552] 
Small Group Communicatoin [CAS 554]
Family Communication [CAS 558]
Relational Communication [CAS 556]
Communication Theory [CAS 560]
Quantitative Research Methods [CAS 561]
Qualitative Research Methods [CAS 562]
Intercultural Communication [CAS 571]
Discourse Analysis [CAS 581]
Communication and Information Technology [CAS 582]

Faculty back to top

Roxanne Parrott, Ph.D., University of Arizona, effects of language choices in messages designed to influence health and risk perceptions and behavior; applied to communicating about genetics and health, recruitment to clinical trials, and in community-based cancer prevention and preconceptional health programs.

Rachel Smith, Ph.D., Michigan State University, impact of social phenomena, including social networks, social support, social cognition, and stigma on message diffusion and behavioral adoption in both domestic and international contexts

James Price Dillard, Ph.D.,Michigan State University, social influence and affective responses to health messages applied to genetic counseling sessions.

Dennis Gouran, Ph.D., University of Iowa, social influences on health-related decisions in various types of group.

Michael Hecht, Ph.D., University of Illinois, culture and identity applied to adolescent drug prevention campaigns.

Michelle Miller-Day, Ph.D., Arizona State University, interpersonal communication and qualitative methods applied to mother-daughter communication and adolescent drug resistance campaign communication.

Jon Nussbaum, Ph.D., Purdue University, communication across the life span applied to elderly adults and gerontology issues.

Denise Solomon, Ph.D., Northwestern University, interpersonal communication and social support applied to breast cancer survivors. 

Summary of Department Research in Process back to top

1. Drug Resistance Strategies Project: Michael Hecht & Michelle Miller-Day

Not everyone listens when you "just say no." Instead of teaching students to just say "no," we are teaching them how to say "no." Teens need to know how to resist offers from all kinds of people-friends and family as well as acquaintances and strangers. Just saying "no" to drugs under peer pressure isn't always easy. The Drug Resistance Strategies Project is about how and why adolescents use drugs. We are finding out what is going on in the teen world in their own words and then developed keepin' it REAL, an effective, multimedia, multicultural middle school prevention program from the teenagers' eyes as expressed in their personal stories of drug resistance. These personal stories of resisting drugs bring "saying no" to life and reveal the R.E.A.L. resistance strategies that teens use when refusing drugs while maintaining relationships. The "REAL" Resistance Strategies Refuse - "No, I don't want to smoke that." Explain - "No, I don't want to smoke that because it makes me sick" Avoid - Stay away from places where drugs are. Leave - Go someplace else.

2. Health and Heritage Project: Roxanne Parrott

The specific aims of the Health & Heritage Project were to conduct systematic formative research using focus groups to evaluate the general public's knowledge structures about human genetics research. This included actual and procedural understanding, positive and negative outcome expectancies associated with genetics, and self-efficacy with regard to informed and shared decision-making about human genetics research (HGR). Comparisons of the perceptions of European America and African American males and females forty years and younger were examined. A second aim was to develop and pilot test culturally and linguistically appropriate indicators to measure key behavioral constructs and associated human genetics messages, assessing the measures for reliability and validity in a population-based telephone survey of European America and African American males and females forty years and younger. The third aim of the project is to refine the cultural and linguistic appropriateness of measures and messages about the meaning of human genetics, giving consideration to literacy, numeracy, and cognitive development in the message design, then test the messages effects in a randomized pilot test of European America and African American males and females forty years and younger, comparing these to a "standard" message.

3. HPV and Its Vaccine: Epidemiology, Education, Natural History, and Evolution Among Young Adults in Appalachia: Roxanne Parrott

The Appalachia community represents a rural population identified more by geography than ethnicity and suffers disparate health disparities, including cancer. Research shows higher rates of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cervical cancer incidence and mortality in Appalachia compared to the rest of the U.S. This project focuses on determining the prevalence of HPV infection by HPV type and variant in cancer patients in Appalachia. The main goal is to develop an interactive research team encompassing healthcare providers, epidemiologists, communication specialists, and laboratory scientists to better understand the epidemiology of HPV disease in the rural Appalachian community, develop and test educational messages to the community, demonstrate prevalent HPV types and variants that create a special risk for the population, develop reagents and tissue culture systems to study the biology and immunology of the prevalent types and variants, and prepare a foundation for future more expansive national grant applications.

4. The Mozambique Malaria and Beans project: Rachel Smith

This project focuses on understanding the system surrounding the diffusion of and user resistance to new innovations in malaria vector control and legume seeds in Mozambique. The approach is to use on-the-ground fieldwork coupled with in-class training, using the very best methodologies and systems thinking to build this understanding. This work is funded through multiple mechanisms, including USDA CSREES International Science and Education. The overarching goal of Ag 2 Africa is to create a self-sustaining learning laboratory – with educational sites in Africa but also in the US – that trains graduate-undergraduate teams from multiple disciplines to understand key food systems-disease interactions. The proposed project will involve ongoing and new collaborations with the University of Johannesburg, international and national agencies active in Eastern Africa (particularly Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania), including the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) and the Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM), as well as collaborations with the College of Agriculture and Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at PSU.

5. The Rio Grande Project: Rachel Smith

Examining Policy Resistance and Infectious Diseases within Dynamic Network Conditions by NIH. Unique conditions at international borders make implementation of public health policy challenging not only because of behavioral, social and economic factors in this environment that change over time, but also because of complex institutional interactions impacting this area. As witnessed in the US/Mexico border, some public health problems seem unresponsive to effective planned interventions. In order to design effective public health policies for the control of infectious disease in this dynamic setting, it seems necessary to account for complex feedbacks from both institutional factors and human behaviors. We propose using an innovative combination of epidemiological modeling, behavior modeling, and institutional modeling to help understand these challenges in health policy design using measles vaccination compliance as a case study. We will develop multilayer systems models integrating processes and parameters brought up by human behavior, network analysis, policy design, economic and demography influences and pathogen dynamics.

Contacts back to top
 

Roxanne Parrott

Address: 219 Sparks Building, Department of Communication Arts & Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802

Email: rlp18@psu.edu

Phone Number: 814-865-6255

Fax Number: 814-863-7986