This book offers a much-needed introduction to the dynamics of the communication exchange between providers and patients in the health-care environment. Starting from the principle that health-care-providers and patients try to speak the same language to reach the best decisions for patient care, but often misunderstand each other whilst navigating the process of diagnosis, treatment and care, Lisa Sparks and Melinda Villagran clearly explain how health communication theory and research can help us better understand these complex interactions, and provide strategies for improving patient and provider communication.

Sparks and Villagran cover a broad range of key issues and theories related to provider-patient interaction, including patient information and affective needs, barriers to effective communication in health-care contexts, and communication skills training for providers. Drawing on the most current literature in this vibrant field, they show the transformations that new technologies such as e-mail and text messaging have brought to communication with and between patients and providers, consider the roles of caregivers, both formal and informal, and illustrate how health-care organizations impact on interpersonal interactions. Throughout the book, Sparks and Villagran deftly illustrate how communicative understandings of patient-provider interaction can have positive practical outcomes, feeding into health behaviour change, creating a communication environment which can improve health literacy and ultimately lead to better health outcomes.

With groundbreaking insights, on-point explanations, and deeply moving examples,

Patient and Provider Interaction illuminates and enriches what is most often one of the most important interactions of our lives.