Introduction to the Special Issue: Communication Strategies to Reduce Health Disparities

An area of study that has attracted the attention of health communication scholars for the past several years is health disparities. Health disparities are differences in health outcomes between socially disadvantaged and advantaged groups. This special issue of the Journal of Communication is focused on communication strategies to reduce health disparities. It features 10 articles that report original empirical studies or literature reviews of health disparities-related research. Communication scholars working in this area have a distinct opportunity to conduct theory-driven applied research with the potential to promote the health and wellbeing of the most vulnerable among us.