Journal of Communication in Healthcare: Strategies, Media, and Engagement in Global Health (JCIH)

"[W]e are entering a new era when designing interventions with communities, patients and other key stakeholders has never been more important in addressing key priorities, and community and patient needs." - Renata Schiavo, PhD, MA, CCL, Editor-in-Chief, JCIH

The Journal of Communication in Healthcare: Strategies, Media, and Engagement in Global Health (JCIH) is a peer-reviewed journal covering contemporary issues, theories, research findings, evidence-based interventions, and innovation across all areas of health communication research and practice. Global in its scope, the journal examines and engages in relevant topics from a variety of country settings and across professional sectors.

With a focus on promoting communication strategies that may encourage improved patient, community, and population health outcomes, the journal presents research, case studies, best practices, and emerging strategies, media, and theoretical or planning frameworks that showcase:

• innovative approaches as they relate to health communication interventions and/or specific communication areas within the healthcare, public health, and global health fields, as well as across multiple sectors;
• the interconnection and integration of different communication areas and media within multi-component interventions that aim to achieve health and social behaviour change (SBC) results among different groups and stakeholders;
• the role of clinicians, patients, communities, populations, and the public at large in engaging in and influencing health communication processes and related interactions and interventions; and/or
• the role of communication in advancing health equity and other human-rights-related causes and in promoting patient, community, and social engagement on health and social issues in clinical, policy, public health, and other domestic and global settings. 

In her Editorial "Advocacy, community engagement and cross-sectoral collaborations as key strategies during COVID-19 response and beyond, Renata Schiavo, Editor-in-Chief, reflects on the role "advocacy, community and patient engagement, and cross-sectoral collaborations can and should play during this pandemic. These important areas in health communication, social and behavioral change communication (SBCC), and risk communication, among many other disciplines in which they are also integrated, are also key pillars of our New Directions for a New Decade efforts at the Journal." To that end, some of the specific areas JCIH is emphasising going forward include papers that:

• explore the role communities play or should play in informing strategic priorities and objectives, communication interventions, research inquiries, media, and messages;
• provide evidence-based arguments to advocate for new policies and social norms and/or interventions that have positively influenced policy behaviour;
• examine communication approaches that integrate not only a variety of communication areas and media, but also different professions and disciplines; and/or
• focus on human rights issues in the context of health; JCIH is affiliated with the Health Equity Initiative (HEI).

JCIH accepts original research articles, reviews, evidence-based case studies, letters, and patient voices. (Guest editorials, interviews, and commentaries are by invitation only.) There are no submission fees, publication fees, or page charges for this journal. Authors have the option to publish open access in this journal, meaning that the article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership, and impact of the research.