Health Communication Glossary

Dividing a population into subgroups with shared characteristics to tailor health messages for each group.

Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication, the CDC's framework for communicating effectively during public health emergencies.

The ability to communicate health information effectively across cultural, linguistic, and literacy differences.

A theory explaining how new ideas or practices spread through a social system over time via communication channels.

The use of electronic information and communication technologies to support health and healthcare delivery.

A strategy that embeds health messages within entertainment content such as television dramas, radio serials, or digital games to reach broad audiences.

A psychological model predicting health behaviors based on perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy.

Preventable differences in health outcomes between population groups, often linked to social, economic, or environmental disadvantage.

The capacity to obtain, process, understand, and act on health information needed for appropriate health decisions.

An overabundance of information, including misinformation, during a health crisis that undermines the public health response.

The strategic presentation of health information emphasizing either gains from action or losses from inaction.

A person-centered counseling technique that strengthens intrinsic motivation for behavior change by exploring ambivalence.

Using stories and personal testimonials to convey health information, increase engagement, and reduce resistance to persuasion.

A communication approach that prioritizes patient perspectives, emotions, preferences, and autonomy in healthcare interactions.

Communication that the audience can understand the first time they encounter it, using clear structure and common vocabulary.

The exchange of information about health risks between experts and the public to enable informed decision-making.

An individual's confidence in their ability to execute a specific behavior or achieve a particular outcome.

A collaborative approach where clinicians and patients jointly make healthcare decisions based on evidence and patient values.

Bandura's theory that behavior results from the interplay of personal, behavioral, and environmental factors, emphasizing observational learning and self-efficacy.

The economic, social, and environmental conditions in which people live that affect their health outcomes and access to care.

The use of commercial marketing principles to design interventions that promote health-related behavior change.

Health messages customized to an individual's characteristics, beliefs, or behaviors to increase personal relevance and effectiveness.

A technique in which patients restate health information in their own words to verify comprehension.

A theory stating that behavioral intention, shaped by attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, predicts behavior.

A model describing behavior change as a process through stages: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance.