Institute of Communication and Health
Communication in the area of health is now a central concern for policy
makers, economists, and academics. Researchers who examine the impact of communication on health and
health care delivery are privileged to focus upon processes of fundamental human import as the management
of critical situation for public health (the bird flu, BSE, obesity and human genetic research), the
provider-patient interaction and the role of media and technologies in spreading health literacy among
the population.
As an academic discipline, health communication is rather new and multidisciplinary
and it encompasses the study and use of communication to inform and influence individual and community
decisions that enhance health; more and more, in fact, it seems that the key question in relation to
communication and health is how to maximize health outcomes through optimal communication.
The Institute of Communication and Health (ICH) pursues research programs
related to the theory and application of communication sciences in the domains of individual heath maintenance
and improvement, corporate and social programs promoting health and wellness, and health policy. Central
to the Institute’s approach to research is the integration of insights from the human sciences and humanistic
traditions (e.g., philosophy and linguistics) with empirical analysis drawing on the social sciences
(e.g., social psychology, decision theory, sociology) because the idea of optimal health can and should
draw on a rich disciplinary background. This diversity of approach provides potential richness to the
study of central problems and takes into account the great number of stakeholders involved in health
care domain and promotion of wellness (citizens, patients, doctors, public or private institutions,
insurance and pharmaceutical companies and the research community). A challenge of health communication,
then, is to harness this diversity of expertise (conceptual, methodological, and substantive).
The Institute’s research programs are broadly organized in the Health
Care Communication Laboratory (HCC Lab), which is committed to cutting-edge
research on core theoretical issues in communication sciences and health, and the Center
for Applied Research in Communication and Health (ARCHE Lab), which pursues
projects with a more proximal view to health promotion and management in the community and the nation.
The Institute also manages an active doctoral program and the health communications concentration within
the Institutional Communications track of the Bachelors and Masters programs of University of Lugano.
HCC-Lab
The
Health Care Communication Laboratory (HCC Lab), is committed to cutting-edge research
on core theoretical issues in communication sciences and health.
ARCHE
The
Center for Applied Research in Communication and Health (ARCHE Lab) pursues projects
with a more proximal view to health promotion and management in the community and the nation.
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