Health Communication Major Mission Statement
Health communication is an emerging field in which professional communicators inform, influence, and motivate individual, institutional, and public audiences about important health issues. The health communication major at DeSales University will provide research skills and training for those who want to work in a health or healthcare-related field without being a healthcare provider. It will provide students with both research-based and practitioner components. Courses in the major are designed to introduce students to both the concepts and the skills necessary for careers in health message creation and dissemination, technology and health, health communication analysis (within both interpersonal and mediated contexts), community health, and advertising and public relations for healthcare institutions, among others. Students who earn a degree in health communication will be well versed in research and skills that allow them to enrich themselves and their community. Our mission is to graduate students who will be productive communicators, in concert with the DeSales University mission and with the principles of Christian Humanism as put forth by St. Francis de Sales.
Student Learning Outcomes
Students who graduate from DeSales University with a major in Health Communication will be able to:
- demonstrate the ability to read analytically, think critically, and write and speak effectively in the areas of communication theory and research methodology, particularly as they relate to health contexts,
- demonstrate information and technological literacy,
- demonstrate knowledge of and practitioner competence in the theories, research, and practices related to interpersonal and mediated communication about health and within healthcare settings, health messaging, and risk and crisis communication
Health communication majors will study the basics of health communication including patient-provider communication, healthcare organization communication, risk and crisis communication, health communication campaigns, and research methods in health contexts. Additionally, they will take a variety of fundamental communication courses in persuasion, media, culture, professional speaking, public relations, and advertising. Health communication majors will complete one or more internships in their junior and senior years, develop extensive portfolios of research and experience, and establish professional networking contacts. They obtain jobs in such areas as healthcare administration and human resources, patient advocacy, community health research and education, crisis communication management, communication campaign development, medical writing, and public relations and marketing for healthcare organizations.
This major requires students to complete eleven core courses, three internal elective courses, and two electives drawn from other departments.
