Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies - The Breakthrough of Digital Health, Oct 2021

It is well-known that non-verbal cues are essential in doctor–patient communication. As doctor–patient communication is turning increasingly digital and written, it becomes relevant to explore the role of non-verbal cues in such communication genres. One more recent genre is the doctor–patient e-mail consultation. Research has found that while patients like e-mail consultations, they also miss facial expressions, eye contact, etc. In this study, we explored the different ways in which Danish GPs use non-verbal cues in e-mail consultations. We analysed 633 e-mail consultations written by 22 GPs. We applied the concept of oralization, which includes the use of emoticons and non-standard use of grammar and spatial arrangement. We found that the dominant types of oralizations were non-corrected spelling errors and lack of attention to capitalization. Overall, GPs used a limited number of other non-verbal cues. We discuss how these findings relate to norms of formality and professional context.

Medical science not only affects our lives in terms of health and disease but also transforms our more vital experiences. Nowadays, this statement has acquired special significance, given the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) by medical practice, the so-called eHealth. The great growth in the use of smartphone applications for managing mental distress has been coined as ‘pocket psychiatry’. Within this digital scape, many disease-specific apps such as ClinTouch, aimed at the self-management of psychosis, have been launched in the market. By using the analytical concept of ‘script’, the article aims to show how the psychiatric world-view embedded in ClinTouch defines a particular framework of action for ‘schizophrenic’ users to contest ‘external-identifications’. It is suggested that if the main endeavour is to promote mental health in the community, it is needed to go beyond the biomedical model to maximize the social participation of people with mental suffering in the use of ICT.

The wide circulation of health misinformation has the potential to cause major health complications for the older generation worldwide who are less active on digital media and are thus less able to identify misinformation. This article draws on the social ties and relational correction perspective to reflect on the evaluating, verifying and correcting practices regarding health misinformation in messenger apps within the older generation in Bangladesh. Thirty Bangladeshi older adults, between the ages of 60 and 74, participated in in-depth interviews with the aim of mapping out the interpersonal relationships with cultural dimensions that contribute to the sharing and correcting of health misinformation. While resharing health information, the social tradition of maintaining a positive impression and trusting those within their close network was visible among these older adults. Although strong and weak ties contributed equally to this process, strong ties played a dominant role in correcting misinformation.

Over the past few years, public health organizations have adopted new communication practices, such as social media communication, framed by the concepts of Health 2.0 and Medicine 2.0. These concepts need to be reconsidered in the light of the transformation of social media as digital platforms. This article aims to define and critically discuss the concept of the platformization of healthcare communication, investigating the impact of social media incorporation on the local health authorities’ Facebook communication during the early phase of the COVID-19 emergency in Italy. Findings show the progressive incorporation of the mechanisms of platformization by local health authorities and the progressive shift of their Facebook pages from connectors to complementors of healthcare communication and services during the early phase of the pandemic. Conclusions critically discuss the incorporation of social media into the communication strategies of the public healthcare sector.

COVID-19 pandemic era has further energized humans to consider their health more than before, especially in the digital age when they experience a deluge of health information. This study, therefore, examined COVID-19 digital sources, health message types and how the use of African Indigenous language media enhanced people’s utilization of coronavirus health messages. Using an online questionnaire and in-depth interview data collection methods, respondents received preventive COVID-19 health messages on social distancing and personal hygiene from mostly interactive digital sources, which hardly infused African Indigenous language media in the health message. However, African Indigenous languages motivated respondents to utilize COVID-19 messages, though people still spread COVID-19 fake news through Indigenous media. Nonetheless, integrating African Indigenous language media into digital health communication can confer credibility on information sources. Still, there is a need to fight the use of digital media to spread fake news.

The purpose of this article is to highlight how technologies, which have for centuries revolutionalized healthcare, have conversely increased health disparities among disadvantaged communities in South Africa during coronavirus disease (COVID-19). A hard lockdown imposed on the country in March 2020, as an initial measure of containment of the novel virus, became unfeasible due to detrimental, mostly economic effects on the economy. From 1 May, the government eased the lockdown restrictions and shifted the emphasis from containment to behaviour change measures using communication strategies that promoted adherence. Yet, even within disadvantaged communities, there have been differences in health-related access with differing levels of disadvantage. Secondary data were analysed from a cross-sectional quantitative survey conducted in ten disadvantaged communities in the Northern Cape and Gauteng Provinces involving 1742 participants. Results show that the lack of digital access to information created an obstacle to adherence to some recommended COVID-19-related behaviour change measures. Disparities existed between the two provinces’ disadvantaged communities based on an urban versus a rural province. The study emphasized the need to assess the extent of underlying obstacles to health equity and achievement of healthcare goals propagated by an interface between healthcare and socio-economic factors. Breakthroughs in healthcare, facilitated by virtual modes of communication may be undermined by a digital divide exacerbating disparities in disadvantaged communities.

This essay examines critically the hegemonic discourses of digital health communication, attending to the role of digital technologies in expanding the reach of digital technologies while exacerbating inequalities in health outcomes. Drawing on a culture-centred approach, it foregrounds the role of communication infrastructures for voices at the margins of neo-liberal economies. These voices put forth an organizing logic of care that dismantle the ideology of neo-liberalism.