Health Communication in the Caribbean and Beyond

Health Communication in the Caribbean and Beyond: A Reader provides a comprehensive, well-researched and up-to-date discussion of the local and international health communication literature and provides a theoretical and practical framework for teaching health and/or medical communication skills. It reviews, explains and applies health communication concepts and principles and provides contexts for their application in both the classroom and in the health professions.

In part 1, the contributors provide a context for health communication skills education and training in the Caribbean. They cite experiences ranging from the development of an innovative communication skills programme, gender differences in delivering bad news, cultural differences between so-called Western models of non-verbal communication and Caribbean contexts of learning, to efforts to develop clinical communication skills in an academic setting.

In part 2, the contributors address the theme of patient care and counselling from multiple perspectives, including exploring the psychological dimension of health communication through patient care and interventions, developing an approach to psychosocial factors and communication skills that influence adherence, considering the challenges in adopting a multicultural perspective, and illuminating how interdisciplinary health teams provide medical and dental support and communication to villagers. Collectively they cast new light on patient-provider communication and provide contrasting insights into issues of privacy and openness, tolerance and empathy.

In part 3, the contributors focus on mediated channels of health communication at both interpersonal and mass communication levels. They examine Internet communication technologies to enhance health communication, the novel prospect of STD partner notification through e-mail and the ethical challenges inherent in such approaches, and surveys to assess the impact of mass communication in halting the spread of HIV/AIDS.

In part 4, the contributors analyse the effectiveness of campaigns and practices in health communication. They explore the link between interpersonal and mass-mediated channels of communication, between health education and health communication, and discuss the role of religiosity in communication, and strategies developed from clinical practice and health communication activities.

Godfrey A. Steel is Senior Lecturer in Communication Studies, Department of Liberal Arts, University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago. He coordinates the graduate programme in Human Communication Studies and was formerly Lecturer in Communication Skills for the Medical Sciences.