About [HC]²

Objectives

The Hanover Center for Health Communication aims at institutionalizing academic research on health communication in Hanover and Lower Saxony. We see ourselves not only as a research initiative, but also as a platform for interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary exchange and collaboration. The center’s main activity is research on the role of communication for health-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. We are active in four major research areas, seeking empirically founded answers to theoretical issues and questions of societal relevance. Our focus is on the ability of various communication channels to reduce health disparities, cope with disease-related strains, and improve knowledge and health behavior.

Research Projects and Research Areas

Our research projects pursue empirical solutions to theoretical issues and questions of societal relevance, which in turn should add to the development and improvement of health communication theory.

Our projects study a myriad of health issues or topics, different target groups, and various actors as well as communication channels. We fit our research methods to the research objectives and apply both quantitative as well as qualitative designs as needed.

Our research efforts can be largely grouped into four major research areas, in which we investigate specific research questions as well as greater structures and overarching communication processes.

We see ourselves as project partners with a communication research perspective on matters of health communication and we see health disparities as a communicative challenge. Industry partners and neighboring academic disciplines are vital to our work, including (but not limited to) Psychology, Sociology, Medicine, Health and Care Science, as well as the STEM fields.

Scientific perspective

Our approach is based on a socio-ecological research perspective and a central focus on the social relationship of sickness and health. Thus, we follow and apply the WHO’s definition of health, which understands health not only as physical or mental health, but includes social aspects of health. With this definition in mind, we investigate the roles social perception and norms, the social context and settings have for prevention, health promotion, or the coping with diseases.

Cooperations

In our projects we cooperate with various partners from science, administration, politics and practice. In addition, we are a member of the Digital Health City Hanover and the Diabetesnetz Deutschland.

 
[HC]²

Last modified: 2024-03-15

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