My research program explores the interactions among structure, culture and agency in the realm of communication practices in healthcare settings. The goals of this program of research are to understand (a) the location of communication within the complex interplay of structure and culture, (b) the ways in which individual and collective agencies are enacted within structural constraints, and (c) the role of communication technologies in healthcare. These research interests suggest theoretical insights regarding the ways in which communication structures, practices, and messages participate in the marginalization of certain sectors of the population, and the processes through which they are resisted by those that are typically disenfranchised. Ultimately, these theoretical entry points provide pragmatic guidelines for engaging with problems of marginalization and disenfranchisement.
Research on the culture-centered approach to health communication explores the ways in which cultural meanings are co-constructed by participants in their interactions with the structures that surround their lives. It is through these co-constructions that the participants discuss possibilities of resisting a healthcare system that continues to locate them at the peripheries, and the possibilities of individual solutions to the day-to-day problems of inaccess. Agency and context are two key threads that have flown through the research conducted in this area. Scholarship focusing on the culture-centered approach has been published in Communication Theory, Health Communication, and Qualitative Health Research. I was awarded the Lewis Donohew Outstanding Health Communication Scholar Award in recognition of this work.
In another line of research, I examine the role of health orientation as a mediating variable explaining the disparate health outcomes experienced by the different genders, social classes, racial groups, and national communities. This body of research demonstrates systematic within-population variance in individual interest in health-related issues, and this variance is related to the demographic indicators. Studies have examined the role of health orientation in the realm of specific health behaviors such as eating fruits and vegetables, exercising and seeking health information; the use of media channels; the sources of health information; and the choice of communication appeals.
The research on communication technologies examines the differential patterns of technology uses in society. I proposed the theory of channel complementarity, suggesting that communication channels exist in complementary relationships in the realm of the functions and audience they serve. In addition, I have extended the concept of complementarity to the realm of digital divide, demonstrating that new media use patterns mirror participation in traditional communication channels. Those that are communicatively marginalized have minimal access to a wide range of communication channels whereas those that participate in new communication platforms also have greater access to the typically traditional communication platforms. In addition, individual-level inaccess corresponds with community level inaccess such that individuals with minimal access to a technology also reside in communities that have minimal access. This line of research has received considerable attention including top paper awards and high volume citations.