title: Emerging issues and future directions of the field of health communication.
abstract: The interdisciplinary intersections between communication science and health-related fields are pervasive, with numerous differences in regard to epistemology, career planning, funding perspectives, educational goals, and cultural orientations. This article identifies and elaborates on these challenges with illustrative examples. Furthermore, concrete suggestions for future scholarship are recommended to facilitate compatible, coherent, and interdisciplinary health communication inquiry. The authors hope that this article helps current and future generations of health communication scholars to make more informed decisions when facing some of the challenges discussed in this article so that they will be able to seize the interdisciplinary and international potential of this unique and important field of study.
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Communication and Health (ICH), Faculty of Communication Sciences , University of Lugano.
authors.forename: Annegret F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Hannawa
authors.forename: Gary L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Kreps
authors.forename: Hye-Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Paek
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: Sandi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Richard L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Street
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003469:Culture; D014943:Global Health; D058015:Health Communication / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D019359:Knowledge; D015980:Public Health Practice; D012693:Serial Publications; D014481:United States