Health Literacy and Public Health Risk Communication

Authors

  • Rita Espanha University Institute of Lisbon

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4000/cp.11303

Keywords:

health literacy, risk communication, public health communication, COVID-19 information

Abstract

Health risk communication has been a field of study, but also of practice, fundamental in the field of public health communication. This article takes a critical, albeit non-systematic, approach to public health risk communication and its application in the Portuguese case, namely by public health authorities, during the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Simultaneously, the importance of literacy levels of the Portuguese population for the understanding, the adoption and the use of the information provided in the effectiveness of risk communication in public health is addressed.

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Author Biography

  • Rita Espanha, University Institute of Lisbon

    Assistant Professor with Habilitation at ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon. Researcher at CIES-ISCTE, currently conducting research in the areas of “Communication, Information Technologies, and Health,” “Health Literacy,” and “ICT in Education.” Director of the Master’s Program in Communication, Culture, and Information Technologies, Erasmus Coordinator of the Department of Sociology, and member of the ISCTE-Health Mission Group. Member of the Scientific Committee of Ediciones-InCom-UAB and the Editorial Board of Revista de Comunicación y Salud. Author of several books and articles on Communication, particularly in the areas of “Health and Communication,” “Networked Communication,” and “Youth and Media in Portugal.”

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Published

2020-12-15

Issue

Section

Special Dossier: Communicating Health – Fundamentals and Practices Towards a Bet

How to Cite

Health Literacy and Public Health Risk Communication . (2020). Comunicação Pública, 15(29). https://doi.org/10.4000/cp.11303