THE ESSENTIAL HANDBOOK FOR EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATING ENVIRONMENTAL, SAFETY, AND HEALTH RISKS, FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED Now in its sixth edition, Risk Communication has proven to be a valuable resource for people who are tasked with the responsibility of understanding how to apply the most current approaches to care, consensus, and crisis communication. The sixth edition updates the text with fresh and illustrative examples, lessons learned, and recent research as well as provides advice and guidelines for communicating risk information in the United States and other countries. The authors help readers understand the basic theories and practices of risk communication and explain how to plan an effective strategy and put it into action. The book also contains information on evaluating risk communication efforts and explores how to communicate risk during and after an emergency. Risk Communication brings together in one resource proven scientific research with practical, hands-on guidance from practitioners with over 30 years of experience in the field. This important guide: Provides new examples of communication plans in government and industry, use of social media, dealing with "fake news," and new digital tools for stakeholder involvement and crisis communications Contains a new chapter on partnerships which covers topics such as assigning roles and expectations, ending partnerships, and more Presents real-world case studies with key lessons all risk communicators can apply. Written for engineers, scientists, professors and students, land use planners, public health practitioners, communication specialists, consultants, and regulators, the revised sixth edition of Risk Communication is the must-have guide for those who communicate risks.

"...this text...will become a reference for years to come." Health Expectations This is the first book to clearly assess the increasingly important area of communication of risk in the health sector. We are moving away from the days when paternalistic doctors managed healthcare without involving patients in decision making. With the current emphasis on patient empowerment and shared decision making, patients want and need reliable, comprehensive and understandable information about their conditions and treatment. In order to make informed decisions, the people concerned must understand the risks and benefits associated with possible treatments. But the challenge for health professionals is how best to communicate this complex medical information to diverse audiences. The book examines: Risk: defining and explaining how the term is used by different disciplines, how its meanings have changed over time and how the general public understand it Health communication and the effects on health behaviours Effective risk communication to individuals and the wider public Effectiveness of patient information leaflets, and strategies for improving oral and written health communications The cognitive and emotional issues at stake for patients in understanding risk and health information The use of new technologies in risk and health communication Ethical issues, and the future of risk communication Using examples from disciplines including psychology, sociology, health, medicine, pharmacy, statistics and business and management, this book is key reading for students who need to understand the effect of risk in health psychology as well as for health professionals interested in doctor-patient communication, informed consent and patient welfare.

Health and Risk Communication provides a critical and comprehensive overview of the core issues surrounding health and risk communication from the perspective of applied linguistics. It outlines the ways applied linguistics differs from other methods of understanding health and risk communication, assesses the benefits and limitations of the approaches used by different scholars in the field, and offers an innovative framework for consolidating past research and charting new directions. Utilizing data from clinical interactions and everyday life, this book addresses a number of crucial questions including: How are the everyday actions we take around health constructed and constrained through discourse? What is the role of texts in influencing health behaviour, and how are these texts put together and interpreted by readers? How are actions and identities around health and risk negotiated in situated social interactions, and what are the factors that influence these negotiations? How will new technologies like genetic screening influence the way we communicate about health? How does communication about health and risk help create communities and institutions and reflect and reproduce broader ideologies and patterns of power and inequality within societies? Health and Risk Communication: An Applied Linguistic Perspective is essential reading for advanced students and researchers studying and working in this area.

"Bringing together a wide variety of perspectives on risk communication, this up-to-date review of a high profile and topical area includes practical examples and lessons."--[Source inconnue].

"During public health emergencies, people need to know what health risks they face, and what actions they can take to protect their health and lives. Accurate information provided early, often, and in languages and channels that people understand, trust and use, enables individuals to make choices and take actions to protect themselves, their families and communities from threatening health hazards." -- Publisher's description.

This book explores the unique contribution that critical communication studies can bring to our understanding of health. It covers several broad themes: representing and mediating health; marketing and promoting health, co-producing health; and managing health crises and risks. Chapters speak to moral and social regulation through health communication, technologies of health, healthism and governmentality. They engage with historical and contemporary issues, offering readers theoretically grounded perspectives. At base, the book explores what a critical communication approach to health might look like, revealing in important—and sometimes surprising—ways how communication sits at the centre of understanding how health is constructed, contested, and made meaningful.

The procedure uses approaches from risk and decision analysis to identity the most relevant information; it also uses approaches from psychology and communication theory to ensure that its message is understood. This book is written in nontechnical terms, designed to make the approach feasible for anyone willing to try it. It is illustrated with successful communications, on a variety of topics."--Jacket.

The conventional approach to risk communication, based on a centralized and controlled model, has led to blatant failures in the management of recent safety related events. In parallel, several cases have proved that actors not thought of as risk governance or safety management contributors may play a positive role regarding safety. Building on these two observations and bridging the gap between risk communication and safety practices leads to a new, more societal perspective on risk communication, that allows for smart risk governance and safety management. This book is Open Access under a CC-BY licence.

In a digital world where the public’s voice is growing increasingly strong, how can health experts best exert influence to contain the global spread of infectious diseases? Digital media sites provide an important source of health information, however are also powerful platforms for the public to air personal experiences and concerns. This has led to a growing phenomenon of civil skepticism towards health issues including Emerging Infectious Diseases and epidemics. Following the shift in the role of the public from recipients to a vocal entity, this book explores the different organizational strategies for communicating public health information and identifies common misconceptions that can inhibit effective communication with the public. Drawing on original research and a range of global case studies, this timely volume offers an important assessment of the complex dynamics at play in managing risk and informing public health decisions. Providing thought-provoking analysis of the implications for future health communication policy and practice, this book is primarily suitable for academics and graduate students interested in understanding how public health communication has changed. It may also be useful to health care professionals.

In this comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of risk communication, the field’s leading experts summarize theory, current research, and practice in a range of disciplines and describe effective communication approaches for risk situations in diverse contexts, such as health, environment, science, technology, and crisis. Offering practical insights, the contributors consider risk communication in all contexts and applications—interpersonal, organizational, and societal—offering a wider view of risk communication than other volumes. Importantly, the handbook emphasizes the communication side of risk communication, providing integrative knowledge about the models, audiences, messages, and the media and channels necessary for effective risk communication that enables informed judgments and actions regarding risk. Editors Hyunyi Cho, Torsten Reimer, and Katherine McComas have significantly contributed to the field of risk communication with this important reference work—a must-have for students, scholars, and risk and crisis communication professionals.