Editorial

Health Communication Research

for Nursing Science and Practice
Susan J. Henly

C
ommunication is at the heart of any human relation- Other recent articles in Nursing Research also address
ship. We use communication to construct messages aspects of health communication for nursing. Individualiza-
and meaning about our experiences, from the mun- tion of communication with youth seeking clinical care may
dane thoughts and activities of our everyday lives to the be facilitated by actively engaging them in health assessment
profound events of our lifetimes. Health and illness affect through completion of an event history calendar or comple-
quality of life, making health communication critical because tion of a questionnaire about adolescent health risks; in a
the stakes are high. Yet, the intimate and sometimes over- secondary analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial,
whelming nature of health concerns can make communicating communications outcomes improved from pretest to post-
with nurses and other healthcare providers very challenging. test after use of both methods for structuring interactions
The belief that patient-centered communication is funda- (Martyn et al., 2013). Conversation transcripts were also
mental to ensuring optimal health outcomes reflects long-held studied during clinic consultations with persons about self-
values in nursing for individualizing care and being responsive management of type 2 diabetes; nurses' use of jargon and fail-
to patient health concerns. Today, as communication increas- ure to close communication loops related to understanding of
ingly involves device-mediated encounters as well as face-to- information were common (Al Sayah, Williams, Pederson,
face interactions, research that explores and clarifies the who, Majumdar, & Johnson, 2014). The Communication Interac-
the whats, the wheres, the whens, the whys, the hows, and tion Behavior Instrument (Nilsen et al., 2014) was developed
the how wells of interactions with individuals, families, and to enable study of interactions between nurses and older
communities receiving care and health services is essential. adults whose communication abilities are diminished by me-
Across all priority areas of nursing science—symptom science, chanical ventilation during critical care. As a group, the arti-
wellness, self-management for improving quality of life in indi- cles point out the wide range of settings and situations in
viduals with chronic illness, and end-of-life and palliative care which communication between nurses and patients occurs,
(National Institute of Nursing Research [NINR], 2011)—the the benefits accruing from effective communication, and the
need for health communication research is great. Nursing sci- negative aftereffects when communications go awry.
entists should incorporate communication-related questions into As its name implies, health communication is a hybrid area
their research programs to facilitate relevance of their work to of research at the intersection of the health sciences and com-
practice, to leverage the impact of their work, and to contribute munication science. Within the field, challenges arise from
to the advancement of health communication research. tensions associated with scientific versus practical emphasis
In this issue of Nursing Research, a detailed analysis of in research, differences in the traditions and scholarly cultures
the conversation sequences generated during the health of the parent disciplines, and the need to extend the field
history-taking portion of consultations at an ambulatory health from local to global, international, intercultural perspectives
center was reported (Vickers, Lindfelt, & Dodd-Butera, 2016). (Hannawa et al., 2014). The complementary foci of the health
Transcripts of dialogue between monolingual Spanish-speaking sciences and communication science create a natural setup
patients with chronic health concerns interacting with bilin- for effective team science. At the intersection, a value for the-
gual nurses and nurse practitioners were studied. Informa- ory in health communication science (Hannawa et al., 2014)
tion obtained at intake by the clinic nurse was sometimes and nursing science alike creates a shared foundation for col-
repeated later during consultation with the nurse practitioner. laborative efforts. The individual-, interaction-, and relationship-
This observed redundancy was sometimes shown to be ineffi- focused theories used to study interpersonal communication
cient, but the conversation analysis also revealed that repeti- (Bylund, Peterson, & Cameron, 2012) have similarities in
tion sometimes resulted in different co-constructions of structure and overlap in concepts with theory used in nurs-
meaning by different providers and could facilitate seam- ing. Likewise, the goal of understanding how communication
less teamwork. Reading the conversation excerpts is eye effects positive changes in health and health behavior is shared
opening as the second-to-second communications unfold (Street, Makoul, Arora, & Epstein, 2009; cf. Donaldson &
and punctuate the individualized nature of every nurse– Crowley, 1978: “… the processes by which positive changes
patient interaction. in health status are effected…”). The vast practice experiences

Nursing Research www.nursingresearchonline.com 257

Copyright © 2016 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

258 Health Communication Research www.nursingresearchonline.com

of nurses as the backbone of health services across the world 2 diabetes patients in primary care settings. Nursing Research,
bring credibility and trustworthiness of knowledge about 63, 408–417. doi:10.1097/NNR.0000000000000055
Bylund, C. L., Peterson, E. B., & Cameron, K. A. (2012). A practi-
provider– patient encounters as interpersonal health communica- tioner's guide to interpersonal communication theory: An
tion to the scientific table. Challenges linking theory and practice overview and exploration of selected theories. Patient Education
in health communications (Ruben, 2016) could be mitigated with and Counseling, 87, 261–267. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2011.10.006
increased engagement of nursing scientists in research endeavor. Donaldson, S. K., & Crowley, D. M. (1978). The discipline of nursing.
Palliative care for children living with serious illness Nursing Outlook, 26, 113–120.
and their families is fraught with communications challenges. Hannawa, A. F., Kreps, G. L., Paek, H.-J., Schulz, P. J., Smith, S., &
Conversation matters in this poignant situation (NINR, 2016), Street, R. L. Jr. (2014). Emerging issues and future directions of
the field of health communication. Health Communication, 29,
which highlights the pressing need for translation of findings 955–961. doi:10.1080/10410236.2013.814959
from nursing communications research to practice. Because
Martyn, K. K., Munro, M. L., Darling-Fisher, C. S., Ronis, D. L., Villarruel,
students find this aspect of practice to be difficult, a first step A. M., Pardee, M., . . . Fava, N. M. (2013). Patient-centered commu-
is to ensure that instructional programs at all levels are contin- nication and health assessment with youth. Nursing Research, 62,
uously updated with new findings from nursing and health 383–393. doi:10.1097/NNR.0000000000000005
communication research studies. A second step is to deliber- National Institute of Nursing Research. (2011). Bringing science to
ately incorporate communications protocols into practice. life. NINR strategic plan [NIH publication #11-7783]. Bethesda,
MD: Author. Retrieved from http://www.ninr.nih.gov/sites/
Broad societal issues should be addressed using policy. www.ninr.nih.gov/files/ninr-strategic-plan-2011.pdf
The individuals, families, communities, and mass audiences
National Institute of Nursing Research. (2016). Palliative care: Con-
communicating with health professionals need and deserve versations matter. Retrieved from http://www.ninr.nih.gov/
thoughtful, responsive, effective communication experi- newsandinformation/conversationsmatter/conversations-matter-
ences with health professionals. Health communication re- newportal#.VxqhmzArKUk
search for nursing science and nursing practice will help to Nilsen, M. L., Happ, M. B., Donovan, H., Barnato, A., Hoffman, L., &
ensure they receive it. Sereika, S. M. (2014). Adaptation of a communication interac-
tion behavior instrument for use in mechanically ventilated, non-
vocal older adults. Nursing Research, 63, 3–13. doi:10.1097/
Susan J. Henly, PhD, RN, FAAN, is Editor of Nursing Research. NNR.0000000000000012
The editor has no conflicts of interest to disclose. Ruben, B. D. (2016). Communication theory and health communica-
Accepted for publication April 25, 2016. tion practice: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Corresponding author: Susan J. Henly, PhD, RN, FAAN, School of Nursing, Health Communication, 31, 1–11. doi:10.1080/10410236.2014/923086
University of Minnesota 5-140 WDH, 308 Harvard St. SE, Minneapolis,
Street, R. L. Jr., Makoul, G., Arora, N. K., & Epstein, R. M. (2009). How
MN 55455 (e–mail: [email protected]).
does communication heal? Pathways linking clinician–patient
DOI: 10.1097/NNR.0000000000000171 communication to health outcomes. Patient Education and
Counseling, 74, 295–301. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2008.11.015
REFERENCES Vickers, C. H., Lindfelt, C., & Dodd-Butera, T. (2016). Repetition in the
Al Sayah, F., Williams, B., Pederson, J. L., Majumdar, S. R., & Johnson, health history segment of Spanish language clinical consultations:
J. A. (2014). Health literacy and nurses' communication with type A conversation analysis. Nursing Research, 65, 306–317.

Copyright © 2016 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.