Document Type : Tarviji
Author
Islamic Azad university, central Tehran branch
Abstract
Abstract
This empirical investigation addresses four paradigmatically framed research questions to illuminate the epistemological status of
the field of health communication, systematically addressing the limitations of existing disciplinary introspections. A content analysis
of published health communication research indicated that the millennium marked a new stage of health communication
research with a visible shift onto macro-level communication of health information among nonhealth professionals. The analysis
also revealed the emergence of a paradigm around this particular topic area, with its contributing scholars predominantly sharing
postpositivistic thought traditions and cross-sectional survey-analytic methodologies. More interdisciplinary collaborations and
meta-theoretical assessments are needed to facilitate a continued growth of this evolving paradigm, which may advance health communication
scholars in their search for a disciplinary identity.Recent studies report a vast proliferation of health communication
research since the inauguration of its first flagship journal
Health Communication in 1989.However, the field is perceived as
fragmented in several aspects. For example, its work is often
viewed as lacking a unifying frame.
Keywords
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