Add your Insight

COVID-19 and Health Inequities: Insights from Communication Research and Practice

Edited by Renata Schiavo, PhD, CCL, Gretchen Van Wye, PhD, and Erma Manoncourt, PhD

Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated many of the existing health, racial and social inequities that too many
communities and individuals have unfortunately been experiencing. Globally, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected vulnerable, marginalized,
and underserved communities, not only in terms of disease morbidity, severity, and mortality, but also in its mental health and economic
consequences that may affect generations to come. With this call for papers, the Journal of Communication in Healthcare: Strategies, Media, and Engagement in Global Health, a
leading peer-reviewed journal published by Taylor & Francis, seeks 1) to contribute to the ongoing debate on the challenges
ahead during and post-COVID-19, and 2) to encourage submissions on research studies, evidence-based interventions, and case studies
that highlight the role of communication research and practice in addressing this important issue. As we believe in the need for a
multisectoral, equity- and community-driven approach to health communication, we are specifically interested in submissions that focus
on interdisciplinary collaborations to promote policy, social and/or behavioral change, address key root causes of health inequities,
and that can help forge the path ahead during COVID-19 response and recovery.

This special issue focuses on insights from communication research and practice in addressing inequities during COVID-19 response
and recovery across the fields of healthcare, public health, global health, and medicine. Sample topics for consideration include,
but are not limited to:

• Communication interventions and strategies to address and manage the COVID-19 infodemic among vulnerable, marginalized and underserved
  groups
• Community-based risk communication
• Community engagement on COVID-19 issues
• Communication strategies and interventions to promote COVID-19 vaccine acceptance/address vaccine hesitancy
• Communication about implicit and organizational bias (e.g., racism, xenophobia, gender bias, bias against people from low-income background
  or the LGBTQI+ community or people living with disability, etc.) and their impact on inequities
• Social discourse and predominant narratives on equal access to essential clinical resources and the COVID-19 vaccine in hospitals and
  community settings
• Policy communication and public advocacy during the pandemic
• Patient-provider communication strategies during COVID-19
• Social support at the interpersonal, group, clinical, and community levels
• The role of narratives and narrative medicine during COVID-19
• Impact of COVID-19 on children and families
• Media coverage on COVID-19 inequities
• Impact of COVID-19 on mental health issues and coping strategies
• Storytelling and narrative change during COVID-19
• Health equity-driven models for health literacy promotion among vulnerable and marginalized communities
• COVID-19 and social media
• Digital redlining and access to telehealth/telemedicine and other essential services among marginalized and underserved groups

Deadline for submission: May 3, 2021