Nurturing a Shared Vision: Self-identity, Relationship Building, and People-Powered Interventions

How the formation of one’s social identities relates to the individual attitudes and behaviours one displayed is an interesting concept that has potential to be employed and improved for health communication. In addition, ideas from new social movement theories have demonstrated how the construction of a collective social identity through discourse and dialogue can lead to collective action or inaction. Finally, the feasibility of community-involved participatory health communication as an alternative to mediated and centrally organised health communication is discussed. Taking cues from Hecht’s Communication Theory of Identity (CTI) this chapter proposes ways to broaden the interdisciplinary nature of health communication to examine individual and collective sensemaking and action, which would make communication not just more inclusive but help in better understanding people’s health practices.