Culture, Race, Ethnicity: Definitions

Abstract

Culture, race, and ethnicity are integral to understanding health and health disparities. In health communication, these factors undergird how messages are produced and received, how people come to understand their health, and what policies are institutionalized and implemented that affect health. Research in health communication often does not engage these facets in meaningful ways, especially with college‐based population samples. Culture, race, and ethnicity are not neutral concepts: they have been constructed to have particular impacts. The contexts of patient, provider, community, researcher, and institutions all have bearing in health communication.