The Promise and Prospects of Argumentation for Public Health Communication

Over the past decades, health communication has become central to public health research and practice. There is a growing consensus that theoretical thinking about the communicative aspects inherent to our efforts to promote health and to protect the public can, for instance, guide the development and implementation of successful health campaigns and social marketing initiatives; aid the dissemination of risk information; contribute to legislation concerning commercial health messages; and improve the communication between individual health practitioners and their patients. Moreover, there is good scientific evidence that effective public health communication can affect health behaviors.