Health Communication: A Future Direction for Instructional Communication Research. Forum: The Future of Instructional Communication

As ways that communication scholars can prepare students to meet challenges and transform society are considered, for the greater good, the authors argue that it is essential to consider the realm of health communication (Morreale, Valenzano, & Bauer, 2016). The authors focus on a growing need for rigorous research as a cornerstone of communication skills training for health professionals. Although education has reached a point where it is clear that communication skills training can reduce some of the human costs and financial burdens of healthcare, the authors maintain the gold standard for delivering this type of instruction is understudied. This article suggests that what remains to be understood are (a) precisely how communication affects health outcomes and (b) how communication skills training is best delivered. The authors believe both would benefit from theoretically driven, methodologically sophisticated programs of research with the promise of evidence-based recommendations. They support the need to study what happens when learning communication becomes part of the culture of care rather than a one-off event so that the health care professions can accumulate evidence demonstrating how communication instruction can cure much of what ails the healthcare system.