Contact: Ralph Derickson

“This year’s theme will be ‘The Future of Health Communication: Bridging Across Disciplines.’ The conference is meant to stimulate discussion of the implications such associations have for the future of health communication with and beyond the discipline.”

-- Nancy Harrington,
conference coordinator,
associate professor,
College of Communications and Information Studies

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 26, 2004) -- The eighth biennial Kentucky Conference on Health Communication (KCHC), focusing on areas such as patient-provider communication, is set for April 15-17 at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Lexington.

Conference coordinator Nancy Harrington, associate professor in the University of Kentucky College of Communications and Information Studies, said the event attracts health communicators and educators from around the nation to consider topics ranging from intimate relationship abuse to communicating cancer issues.

“This year’s theme will be ‘The Future of Health Communication: Bridging Across Disciplines,’” said Harrington. “The conference is meant to stimulate discussion of the implications such associations have for the future of health communication with and beyond the discipline,” she added.

Among the conference speakers are Michael D. Slater of Colorado State University and Gary Kreps, chief of the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md. Kreps will also receive the Robert Lewis Donohew Health Communication Scholar Award during the conference.

Students play a large role in the national health communication conferences, Harrington said. Among the papers to be presented is an award-winning research piece by Leslie A. Thornton of Ohio University titled “Hurt and Wounded, but Free: Structure and Therapeutic Significance of Survivors’ Narratives of Intimate Abuse.”

In her paper, Thornton analyzes narratives from five women who experienced abuse from an intimate heterosexual partner. The doctoral student explored the use of full stories, or narratives, in telling about the violent episodes the women experienced.

Harrington said UK students, faculty and staff may attend the conference for half-price. The UK fee for students, faculty and staff to attend the pre-conference on April 15 is $25. Conference attendance April 16-17 for UK participants is $50.

For a detailed look at conference activities and to download a registration form, go to http://comm.uky.edu/kchc.