American Academy of Health Behavior

 
 
 

 

Health Communication at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  

Claudia Fishman Parvanta, PhD; Vicki Freimuth, PhD

Objective: To describe the diffusion of health communication in a federal agency over this past decade. Methods: Authors reviewed documents and interviewed staff. Results: CDC's health communication agenda, tools for diffusion, and programmatic examples are described. Conclusions: Health communication at CDC is positioned as a means of influencing individual behaviors and environmental factors to reduce risks to health. Although virtually all CDC programs share scientific findings with the public, comparatively few mount systematic health communication programs. This is due in part to health communication's place within the epidemiological paradigm of CDC and in part to health promotion needs' outstripping resources.

Am J Health Behav 2000;24(1):18-25

 
 
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