Healthcare Communication
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Professor in Healthcare Communication
Robyn Woodward-Kron+61 3 83443072
Research Overview
The research of the healthcare communication group addresses contemporary issues in healthcare and how these impact on communication including the cultural and linguistic diversity of the health workforce and patients, online health information and health literacy, English language proficiency and screening, and communication for safe and effective care. We investigate healthcare communication in a range of different settings, including health professional-patient interactions, health professsional inter and intra-professional communication, and learner medical discourses to inform health professional education. We approach our research primarily through qualitative and discourse analytical methods. Our multidisciplinary group includes health professional educators, clinicians, applied linguists, and communication scientists.
Clinical communication teaching and learning in health professions education is a major focus of our research. Investigations in the health education disciplines of medicine, audiology, nursing, physiotheapy, and speech pathology have explored how students enact relationship-centred care. We have also developed evidence-based communication resources for the emergency department and conducted communication research with internationally qualified health professionals. Some of this work has resulted in online teaching resources that are openly accessible.
A further area of research is communication technologies to overcome language and cultural barriers for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) women in maternal care and for recruitment of CALD people into clinical trials.
Projects:
- Overcoming language and cultural barriers to participation in clinical trials, with funding from MRFF Clinical Trial Seed Funding, 2019; Office of Research Ethics and Integrity, University of Melbourne, 2016. Woodward-Kron R, Hajek J, Parker A, Story D.
- Improving interpreting for dementia assessments: The MINDSET Study. (National Ageing Research Institute) NHMRC Partnership Grant. 2021-2023. Brijnath B, LoGiudice D, Gonzalez Garcia E, Low, L-F, Woodward-Kron R, Hlavac J, Enticott J, Antoniades J, Gilbert A, $271,586.20
- Engaging CALD communities (Chinese, Greek, and Italian) and their elderly in COVID-19 and pandemic health information. 2020 Faculty of Arts Seed Funding. Hajek J, Karidakis M, Pym A, Woodward-Kron R. $19,500.
- Trust, risk, and clinical placement. 2020 MDHS/ Arts. Seed Funding collaboration. Woodward-Kron, Lang, Sanci, Rajkhowa, Kelly, Rizzi. $10,000.
- Communicating with older people across transition points of care. 2017-2019. ARC Discovery DP170100308. Manias, Bucknall, Woodward-Kron, Williams, Hughes, Jorm, $299,000.
Student Projects:
- Interprofessional communication in rehabilitation. PhD study Julia Paxino.
- Exploration of Patient-Communication in General Dental Practice in Melbourne. PhD study Darina Nirmalann
- Intercultural communication of overseas qualified nurses: perspectives and practices. PhD study Susan Philip. Completed 2020.
- Audiology student clinical communication. PhD study Samantha Tai. Completed 2019.
Available Projects:
Please contact the group lead, Robyn Woodward-Kron
Staff
Professor Elizabeth (Liz) Molloy
Collaborators
National Ageing Research Institute
Department of Critical Care, University of Melbourne
Institute of Communication and Health, University of Lugano, Switzerland
Institute for Communication and Healthcare, Australian National University
Language Testing Research Centre, University of Melbourne
Medical Education, University of Western Sydney
Medical Education, University of Auckland
Research Unit for Multilingualism and Cross-Cultural Communication (RUMACCC), University of Melbourne
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Deakin University
Western Health
Funding
NHMRC Partnership grant
Australian Research Council, Linkage and Discovery Project Grants
Australian Learning and Teaching Council
Australian and New Zealand Association of Medical Education (ANZAME)
Department of Health, Victoria. Developing Organisational Capacity Funding
Postgraduate Medical Council Victoria
Ethics and Integrity Development Grant Scheme, University of Melbourne
Institute for a Broadband Enabled Society
Vice-Chancellor's Staff Engagement Project Grants, University of Melbourne
Melbourne Social Equity Institute
Research Opportunities
This research project is available to Honours students to join as part of their thesis.
Please contact the Research Group Leader to discuss your options.
Research Outcomes
Some examples of translational healthcare communication multimedia and learning resources from the healthcare communication research group
- Woodward-Kron, Bow, Flynn, Pill, Fraser (2012) Doctors Speak Up: Communication and Language for International Medical Graduates (funded by Department Health, Victoria), Web resource. (winner 2014 ELTon British Council award, Digital Innovation category.)
- Woodward-Kron, Flynn, Macqueen, Slade, Widin, Stein-Parbury, Smith, Scheeres, (2011) Communication for Health in Emergency Contexts (CHEC): Teaching and learning resource for Emergency Department Communication.
- Woodward-Kron R, Flynn E, Delany C (2009). Clinical communication and ethical practice for International Medical Graduates in Australia. DVD and CD. University of Melbourne for Postgraduate Council of Victoria
Research Publications
Paxino J, Denniston C, Woodward-Kron R, Molloy E Communication in interprofessional rehabilitation teams: a scoping review. Disability and Rehabilitation. 2020; 17-. doi:10.1080/09638288.2020.1836271
Woodward-Kron R Focus on Methodology: Let's talk about discourse analysis for health professional education: What, why and how. Focus on Health Professional Education: A Multidisciplinary Journal. 2020; 21(2): 63-74.
Denniston, C., Molloy, E. K., Ting, C. Y., Lin, Q. F., & Rees, C. E. (2019). Healthcare professionals’ perceptions of learning communication in the healthcare workplace: an Australian interview study. BMJ Open, 9(2), e025445. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025445
Philip, S., Woodward-Kron, R., Manias, E., & Noronha, M. (2019). Overseas Qualified Nurses’ (OQNs) perspectives and experiences of intraprofessional and nurse-patient communication through a Community of Practice lens. Collegian, 26(1), 86–94. doi:10.1016/j.colegn.2018.04.002
Hughson, J. A., Marshall, F., Daly, J. O., Woodward-Kron, R., Hajek, J., & Story, D. (2018). Health professionals’ views on health literacy issues for culturally and linguistically diverse women in maternity care: barriers, enablers and the need for an integrated approach. Australian Health Review, 42(1), 10-20. doi:10.1071/AH17067
Tai, S., Woodward-Kron, R., & Barr, C. (2018). Audiology Students' Perspectives of Enacting and Learning Clinical Communication: A Qualitative Interview and Video Reflexivity Study. American journal of audiology, 27(2), 219-230. doi:10.1044/2018_AJA-17-0097
Tai, S., Barr, C., & Woodward-Kron, R. (2017). Competing agendas and other tensions in developing patient-centred communication in audiology education: a qualitative study of educator perspectives. International Journal of Audiology, 57(4), 274–282. doi:10.1080/14992027.2017.1385863
Denniston, C., Molloy, E., Nestel, D., Woodward-Kron, R., & Keating, J. L. (2017). Learning outcomes for communication skills across the health professions: a systematic literature review and qualitative synthesis. BMJ Open, 7(4), e014570. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014570
Woodward-Kron, R., Fraser, C., Rashid, H., Au, J., Chua, Y. E., & George, L. (2016). Perspectives of junior doctor intercultural clinical communication: Lessons for medical education. Focus on Health Professional Education: A Multi-Professional Journal, 17(3), 82. doi:10.11157/fohpe.v17i3.179
Woodward-Kron, R. (2016). International medical graduates and the discursive patterns of patient-centred communication. Language Learning in Higher Education, 6(1). doi:10.1515/cercles-2016-0012
Hughson, J., Woodward-Kron, R., Parker, A., Hajek, J., Bresin, A., Knoch, U., … Story, D. (2016). A review of approaches to improve participation of culturally and linguistically diverse populations in clinical trials. Trials, 17(1). doi:10.1186/s13063-016-1384-3
McDonald, D., & Woodward-Kron, R. (2016). Member roles and identities in online support groups: Perspectives from corpus and systemic functional linguistics. Discourse & Communication, 10(2), 157–175. doi:10.1177/1750481315615985
Woodward-Kron, R., Elder, C. (2016). Authenticity in an English language screening test for clinicians: A comparative discourse study. Language Testing, 33(2), 251-270. doi:10.1177/0265532215607399