Public Relations Theory

14Health Public Relations

Shelley Aylesworth‐Spink

A dog licks its owner’s face on a cardiac rehabilitation clinic website, illustrating how pets can reduce the risk of heart disease. A new sunscreen product launches on social media and in local media outlets with a search for a region’s most family‐friendly beach. A hospital president speaks at a press conference about measures to stop a virus raging among patients and worrying the community.

Such tactics are found in the growing field of health public relations, a specialization that involves the disciplines of public relations and health communication.

This chapter focuses on health public relations, an area of practice and theory driven by the specific motivations and interests of organizations. Health public relations has been defined as the strategic planning, implementation, and evaluation of communication tactics for purposes of influencing health attitudes, knowledge, behaviors, and decision‐making (Aldoory & Austin, 2011). While health communication may be more broadly defined as the ways in which people perceive and act on information about their overall health and health chances, health public relations focuses on achieving objectives and goals specific to the sponsoring business, nonprofit, governmental, or nongovernmental organization.

Unquestionably, both fields impact people’s lives through communication.

Defining the Concepts: What Is Health Public Relations?

Health communication tends to promote informed ...