SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde engages conference participants in an interactive discussion.
Health Communication, Marketing, and Media: Why Behavioral Health Matters
Joining with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), SAMHSA recently helped sponsor the fourth annual National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media.
Other partners included the National Cancer Institute and the National Public Health Information Coalition. The conference convened at the Omni Hotel in
Atlanta, GA, August 17 to 19.
This year’s theme, Convergence: Purpose, Programs, & Partners, invited a “meeting of the minds” among the fields of health communication, marketing, and media in synergistic discussions with distinct sciences, methodologies, and technologies.
Offering a forum for collegial dialogue across disciplines, the conference brought together individual researchers and communications professionals from academia, government, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.
Conference participants were asked to examine the impact of more holistic thinking on processes and outcomes.
For SAMHSA, the conference provided an energetic venue for a meeting of the Agency’s National Advisory Council and a special session, “Behavioral Health is Essential to Health—A New National Communication Opportunity” (see SAMHSA’s Special Session: Behavioral Health is Essential to Health.) In addition, the Agency offered 21 scholarships to the conference.
One of the four conference tracks, “Exploring Innovations,” offered attendees a chance to experience “the case for change,” including new ways to expand outreach to communities across the Nation.
The five “change” presentations highlighted the following:
- SAMHSA’s Store and groundbreaking behavioral health publications dissemination (SAMHSA)
- Content syndication of the Quick Guide for Healthy Living (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion)
- Mobile “apps” and consumer health information (NIH, Office of Dietary Supplements)
- Clinician’s screening tools (NIH, National Institute on Drug Abuse)
- New technologies for reaching consumers and health professionals (IQ Solutions, Inc.).
Is there a difference between eliminating health disparities and achieving health equity? How do we improve our mental and physical health? How does storytelling help? Special Sessions below addressed these topics and many others.
- SAMHSA’s Behavioral Health is Essential to Health—A New National Communication Opportunity
- Hug’em, Nudge’em, or Slug’em: The Unique Role of Behavioral Economics in Health Behavior Change
- Mobilizing a Nation to Achieve Health Equity: Getting Beyond the Rhetoric
- Connecting to Communities through Partnerships with Ethnic Media.
Find out more about the conference.