Aids Communication And Empowerment

AIDS, Communication, and Empowerment examines the cultural construction of gay men in light of discourse used in the media’s messages about HIV/AIDS--messages often represented as educational, scientific, and informational but which are, in fact, politically charged. The book offers a compelling and substantive look at the social consequences of communication about HIV/AIDS and the reasons for the successes and failures of contemporary health communication. This analysis is important because it provides a reading of health communication from a marginal perspective, one that has often been kept silent in mainstream academic research. AIDS, Communication, and Empowerment offers a critical, historical analysis of public health communication about HIV/AIDS; the ways this communication makes sense historically and culturally; and the implications such messages have for the marginal group which has been most stigmatized as a consequence of these messages. It covers such topics as: the relationship among gay identity, language, and power cultural studies of the historical development of gay identity studies in health communication about HIV/AIDS and health risk communication the political consequences of public health education about HIV/AIDS on gay men the political consequences of media representations of gay identity and its relationship to disease Based primarily on the French scholar Michel Foucault’s critical, historical analysis of discourse and sexuality, this book takes a timely and original approach which differs from traditional, quantitative communication studies. It examines the relationship between language and culture using a qualitative, cultural studies approach which places medicalization theories in the broader context of histories of sexuality, the discursive development of contemporary gay identity, and recent public health communication. Author Roger Myrick explains how mainstream communication about HIV/AIDS relentlessly stigmatizes and further marginalizes gay identity. He describes how national health education stigmatizes groups by associating them with images of disease and “otherness.” Even communication which originates from marginal groups, particularly those relying on federal funds, often participates in linking gay identities with disease. According to Myrick, government funding, while often necessary for the continuation of community-based health campaigns, poses obvious and direct restrictions on effective marginal education. AIDS, Communication, and Empowerment allows for a rethinking of ways marginal groups can take control of their own education on public health issues. As HIV/AIDS cases continue to rise dramatically among marginalized and disenfranchised groups, analysis of health communication directed toward them becomes crucial to their survival. This book provides valuable insights and information for scholars, professionals, readers interested in the relationship among language, power and marginal identity, and for classes in gay and lesbian studies, health communication, or political communication.

The papers in this volume were selected from the Silver Jubilee edition of the Annual Conference of the Linguistic Association of Nigerian (LAN) which was held at the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Abuja, Nigeria. The Silver Jubilee edition is dedicated to the father of Nigerian Linguistics, Professor Emeritus Ayo Bamgbose. Professor Emeritus Bamgbose was the first indigenous Professor of Linguistics in Nigeria, and the first black African to teach linguistics in any known university south of the Sahara. He was there from the very beginning, and together with co-operation of people such as the late Professor Kay Williamson, he nurtured Nigerian linguistics. He is not just a foremost Nigerian linguist, but also a most famous, respected, celebrated, distinguished, and cherished African linguist of all times. To be candid, Nigerian linguistics is synonymous with Professor Emeritus Bamgbose. In 58 well-written chapters by experts in their fields, the book covers aspects of Nigerian languages, linguistics, literatures and culture. The papers have not been categorized into sections; rather they flow, hence there is some overlapping in the arrangement. The book is an essential resource for all who are interested to learn about current trends in the study of languages, linguistics and related subject-matters in Nigeria.

The Communication Yearbook annuals originally published between 1977 and 2009 publish diverse, state-of-the-discipline literature reviews that advance knowledge and understanding of communication systems, processes, and impacts across the discipline. Topics dealt with include Communication as Process, Research Methodology in Communication, Communication Effects, Taxonomy of Communication and European Communication Theory, Information Systems Division, Mass Communication Research, Mapping the Domain of Intercultural Communication, Public Relations, Feminist Scholarship, Communication Law and Policy, Visual Communication, Communication and Cross-Sex Friendships Across the Life Cycle, Television Programming and Sex Stereotyping, InterCultural Communication Training, Leadership and Relationships, Media Performance Assessment, Cognitive Approaches to Communication.

The AIDS epidemic, a staggering challenge by any measure, becomes more complex every year. The global response to this epidemic has taken many forms, with information and communication playing an important role in most initiatives./-//-/According to the authors of this important book, strategic communication is a promising response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic since it combines a series of important elements and is designed to stimulate positive and measurable behavior change. After describing the key principles of this strategy, the authors elaborate on a wide range of important issues including:/-//-/ - The importance of advocacy and community mobilization/-/ - Comprehensive approaches to prevention and the use of communication in reducing stigma/-/ - Communication programs for a wide range of specific audiences including injecting drug users, men having sex with men, and people living in refugee settings/-/ - The role of communication in support of clinical and social services/-/ - The care and support of orphans and other vulnerable children/-/ - Selected communication approaches with considerable potential including entertainment-education, telephone hotlines and digital communication/-//-/In the last chapter, the authors outline some of the emerging challenges in combating HIV/AIDS while the appendix provides sources of further information and training courses.

This book advances new understandings of how technologies have been harnessed to improve the health of populations; whether the technologies really empower those who use information by providing them with a choice of information; how they shape health policy discourses; how the health information relates to traditional belief systems and local philosophies; the implications for health communicators; how certain forms of silence are produced when media articulates and problematizes only a few health issues and sidelines others; and much more. The book brings together current research and discussions on the three areas of policy, practices and theoretical perspectives related to health communication approaches in developing countries, presenting well-researched and documented essays that will prove helpful for academic and scholarly inquiry in this area.

This incisive Handbook critically examines the role and place of media and communication in development and social change, reflecting a vision for change anchored in values of social justice. Outlining the genealogy and history of the field, it then investigates the possible new directions and objectives in the area. Key conclusions include an enhanced role for development communication in participatory development, active agency of stakeholders of development programs, and the operationalization of social justice in development.

The constantly evolving digital world must be used in the practice of medicine to improve the care of patients. However, the only way to do so effectively is via evidence-based, meaningful and strategic use. Empowering the Connected Physician in the E-Patient Era provides practical guidance in this mission and is thus essential reading for all health stakeholders looking into approaching this. Drawing on the author’s research and consulting practice, as well as on the practical experience of managers in medium-large organizations worldwide, the book will provide a proven framework to improve the development and implementation of physicians’ empowering digital programs in these organizations, a step-by-step guide for how companies can develop and implement programs aiming at empowering physicians while empowering patients. It is an engaging how-to/how-not-to book which will include tips, advice and critical reviews that every stakeholder must have in order to participate in the evolving healthcare system and be more active in making strategic patient-centered choices. This book will help healthcare organizations chart a course within this new territory and thereby improve their ability to engage with empowered patients.