Communication in Health and Communication for Social Change

Abstract

As a result of the construction of a doctoral thesis with a purely theoretical corpus ongoing, this paper propose a journey from some models and theory of Communication and Health. The two central axes are Communication for Social Change and Communication in Health, in order to recognize how they present Participation in Health in the middle of their theoretical postulates. The methodology is based on a bibliographic review of the theoretical foundations of the both axes, from where it is intended to distinguish which positions the literature found shows on the importance of participation in order to favor health processes. The literature reveals that Communication has a great space and a great theoretical-practical review in the field of participation. Through it, communities are invited to propose, design, formulate, implement and evaluate communication processes. This is what the authors refers as ‘Participatory Communication’. It is concluded that communication for Social Change and Communication in Health are a key tool and that it allows us to dimension health as a process where participation is necessary in order to transform reality.