Effective Health Communication in the Management of Chronic Conditions: Theoretical Considerations for a Multicultural Framework

Sample

Chronic lifestyle-related conditions, such as ischemic heart disease, smoking-related conditions, high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, and cancer, are at critically high levels worldwide (Dean, 2009a, 2009b). These conditions are associated with substantial social as well as economic burdens with the potential to bankrupt economies in the years ahead. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) has long proclaimed that lifestyle-related conditions are largely preventable and, in part, reversible with healthy living, these conditions are the leading causes of premature death in high-income countries, and increasingly in middle- and low-income countries, commensurate with their economic development (Waxler-Morrison, Richardson, Anderson, & Chambers, 2005).