Healthcare and Patient Communication in the Digital Era

Sinikka Torkkola is a Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences at Tampere University, Finland. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oulu, Finland.Anna Sendra Toset is a Project Manager in the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences at Tampere University, Finland.

“Digital health is revitalizing the increasingly demanding patient. How the system and professionals face the challenge of humanizing healthcare is a major question, to which this book seeks a transformative answer. It is a highly recommended introduction to the paradigm shift.”Jordi Farré, Rovira i Virgili University, Spain“This book offers brilliant analyses of the ways in which digitalization changes all healthcare communication and how the digitalization of healthcare communication alters the sociocultural understanding of patienthood. It provides anyone interested in healthcare communication with relevant information and new directions of study.”Valentina Marinescu, University of Bucharest, Romania“This book departs from the traditional perspective of health communication dominated by an industrial view presenting the patient as a passive recipient of assistance from above. Focusing on patienthood, the authors reverse the perspective to a patient-centred approach facilitated by digital opportunities.”Kaarle Nordenstreng, Tampere University, Finland

• 1. Introduction 2. Communication and ill Health 3. Digitalization of illness: From paternalism to empowerment 4. From the medical gaze to the digital gaze 5. Digitalization of sickness: Renegotiating health citizenship 6. Patienthood and healthcare communication in the digital era