CFP:Communication and health: challenges and opportunities

Posted on 2025-03-13 16:53:29

The international journal Miguel Hernández Communication Journal announces a special issue titled Communication and Health: Challenges and Opportunities. This issue calls for the submission of articles that analyze communicative or media practices related to the field of health. The deadline for the reception of complete articles (via the journal's platform) is April 1, 2026.

The intersection between communication and health represents a crucial field of study in the current social context, where health information plays a fundamental role in individual decision-making processes that affect people's lives. In an increasingly interconnected world, the way health-related topics are communicated can have a profound and far-reaching impact on public well-being. Furthermore, in the current digital era, characterized by the rapid distribution and viralization of information—and misinformation—through multiple platforms, it is essential to examine how communication strategies can influence health-related behaviors.

Research in communication and health is vital not only to understand how health information is transmitted but also to analyze how knowledge about health issues is constructed through the media and how media literacy can play a key role in this process.

In the field of health, media literacy enables individuals to develop competencies to access, understand, analyze, and critically reflect on health-related content in both traditional media and social networks.

Effects of Media on Perception and Behavior

The priming effect, as described by Jo and Berkowitz (1996), suggests that exposure to media content activates mental connections that influence individuals' everyday attitudes. Castromil (2017) defines it as the link between agenda-setting and opinions about public figures or other topics.

In the context of health, exposure to health information can have both positive and negative implications (Cáceres, Ruiz San Román, and Brändle, 2011; Herrera-Tejedor, 2017; Villar, López, and Celdrán, 2013).

  • Positive effects: It can enhance knowledge and decision-making regarding health.

  • Negative effects: Inaccurate or sensationalist information can lead to misguided decisions or encourage inappropriate behaviors in the use of healthcare services.

It is crucial to analyze the problems associated with misinformation and sensationalism in the transmission of health-related content. A systematic study of the effects and consumption of health information among the population would enable:

  • Designing effective and ethical communication strategies.

  • Promoting truthful and accurate information.

  • Fostering collaboration between healthcare professionals and media outlets.

This collaboration is essential to ensure that health-related content is produced and disseminated responsibly, thereby contributing to a better understanding and utilization of health information by the public. It is therefore fundamental to study the problems associated with misinformation, sensationalism, and the dramatization of health-related content in the media.

This special issue is part of the research project: Effects and Consumption of Health Information in the Media among the Madrid Population Aged 74 and Over (ECIS+74), funded by the 2024 Research Promotion Projects Call of the Rey Juan Carlos University.

While not limited to these, manuscripts addressing the following thematic lines will be accepted:

  • Analysis of how users access and consume health-related information.

  • Research on the effects of media consumption of health-related content.

  • Studies on media literacy linked to health topics.

  • Misinformation and health.

  • Fact-checking strategies in health-related topics.

  • Evaluation of the influence of social media as a source of health information.

  • Psychosocial effects of consuming health-related content in digital media.

  • Ethical and legal responsibilities of digital platforms in disseminating health-related content.

Note: Articles related to COVID-19 or the pandemic will not be accepted.

Research Lines

  • Media literacy in health.

  • Effects of media on health-related perceptions and behaviors.

  • Media consumption of health-related topics.

  • Health communication strategies.

  • Misinformation in health-related content.

  • Uses and gratifications of health information.

  • Social media and health topics.

Keywords: Communication and health, misinformation, media effects, media consumption.

References:

ARIAS ORDUÑA, A. V. e IGLESIAS-PARRO, S. (2015). La generatividad como una forma de envejecimiento exitoso. Estudio del efecto mediacional de los vínculos sociales. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 5(1), 109-120. doi: 10.1989/ejihpe.v1i1.95

BERELSON, B. (1948). What “missing the newspaper” means. Communications research 1948-1949, 111-129. https://bit.ly/48tTU1h

BLUMLER, J. G. y KATZ, E. (1974). The uses of mass communications: Current perspectives on gratifications research. London: Sage publications

CÁCERES, M. D.; RUIZ SAN ROMÁN, J. A. y BRÄNDLE, G. (2011). El uso de la televisión en un contexto multipantallas. Anàlisi: quaderns de comunicació i cultura, 43, 21-44

CASTROMIL, A. R. (2017): Ciencia política para periodistas. Ideas para una información más rigurosa. Barcelona: UOC.

FLORES-RUIZ, I. y HUMANES-HUMANES, M. L. (2014). Hábitos y consumos televisivos de la generación digital desde la perspectiva de los usos y gratificaciones. Estudio de caso en la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. Revista Mediterránea de Comunicación, 5(1), 137-155. http://dx.doi.org/10.14198/MEDCOM2014.5.1.06

HERRERA-TEJEDOR, J. (2017). Preferencias de las personas muy mayores sobre la atención sanitaria. Revista Española de Geriatría y Gerontología. 52(4): 209–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regg.2016.08.002

INE (2020). Encuesta Europea de Salud en España (EESE-2020). https://bit.ly/3wur2Zq

JO, E. y BERCOWITZ, L. (1996). Análisis del efecto priming sobre la influencia de los media: una puesta al día.  En J. Bryant y D. Zillmann (eds): Los efectos de los medios de comunicación. Investigaciones y teorías. Barcelona: Paidós.

MINISTERIO DE SANIDAD (2023). Informe Anual del Sistema Nacional de Salud 2022. https://bit.ly/3TcG0w8

MCQUAIL, D. y WINDAHL, S. (1997). Modelos para el estudio de la comunicación colectiva. Pamplona: EUNSA

VILLAR, F., LÓPEZ, O. y CELDRÁN, M. (2013). La generatividad en la vejez y su relación con el bienestar. Anales de Psicología, 29(3), 897-906

For inquiries regarding the suitability of your proposal, you may contact Casandra López Marcos (casandra.lopez@urjc.es) or Gustavo Montes (gustavo.montes@urjc.es).

Author Guidelines:
https://revistas.innovacionumh.es/index.php/mhcj/about/submissions

Coordinators

Casandra López Marcos
Assistant Professor with a PhD in the Department of Journalism and Corporate Communication (URJC). Accredited as an Assistant Professor and Contracted Professor. She holds a PhD in Communication (with European mention and an extraordinary doctoral award). She is a member of the High-Performance Research Group INECO. Her research lines include social networks, misinformation, and the uses and practices of journalism. She is associated with medical scientific societies such as SEMER (Spanish Society of Geriatric Residence Physicians), where she served as press chief for 8 years. Additionally, she has worked in various media outlets and held positions as Press Chief for a municipality in the Community of Madrid and as Communications Director for the Spanish Government Delegation in Madrid.

Gustavo Montes Rodríguez
Assistant Professor with a PhD in the Department of Communication and Sociology (URJC). Accredited as an Assistant Professor and Contracted Professor. He is a member of the INECO Research Group and has a six-year research accreditation. His research focuses on narrative analysis, journalism, intermediality, and video-scene. He has worked as a journalist in various media outlets and served as a cultural advisor and press coordinator for the Madrid delegation of a regional administration.

Belén Puebla Martínez
Full Professor at Rey Juan Carlos University. She holds a PhD in Communication Sciences from URJC, a Master’s in Communication and Sociocultural Issues, and degrees in Journalism and Audiovisual Communication from the same university. She is the Principal Investigator of the High-Performance Research Group in Innovation, Education, and Communication (INECO) at Rey Juan Carlos University and the Principal Investigator of the consolidated Teaching Innovation Group NODOS. She is the Director of the scientific journal Index.comunicación, indexed in various evaluation systems and scientific databases, including Scopus (Q1 in Visual Arts and Performance Arts and Q2 in Communication), Emerging Sources Citation Index, and the FECYT Quality Seal. Her expertise lies in the study of analytical research methods in social communication, innovative teaching practices, media literacy, combating misinformation, Spanish television fiction, and the history of media, particularly press and television, among other research lines.