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09/09/2016

ECA 2017 - Call for Papers - Health Communication Interest Group

108th Annual Eastern Communication Association (ECA) Convention

Freedom To … Freedom From …

Boston, MA

The Omni Parker House

March 29 - April 2, 2017

Submission Deadline: October 15, 2016

The Health Communication Interest Group invites submissions of papers, panels, short courses, and other innovative activities for the 108th Annual ECA Convention. The Health Communication Interest Group studies the processes, practices, and policies related to human and mediated communication in health care and health promotion. Research presented within this division evolves from a wide range of theories and methodological approaches that often address the ways individuals seek, interpret, and respond to health information. The interest group promotes scholarship that examines communication in health education and promotion, health care consumer-provider relationships, caregiving, health care organizations, health policy, health campaigns and interventions, communication and aging, lifespan development, risk communication, and e-health applications. The interest group welcomes submissions from scholars at all stages in their academic career, especially those interested in exploring and applying new theoretical perspectives to health communication.

No city in the United States is associated more with the tensions inherent in the concept of <freedom> than Boston, the site of our 2017 convention. Although the “Freedom Trail” that passes only twenty feet from the door of our convention hotel tells a story that Boston – and the United States – seeks simple <freedom>, its two endpoints show that <freedom> is no simple thing. The Massachusetts State House on the southern end negotiates daily the tension between governmental regulation and individual liberties. The USS Constitution on the northern end embodies the nation’s history desire for freedom from foreign aggression through its freedom to use military force. The Boston Common was used as a grazing ground, where there was freedom from livestock fees, but also freedom to enact the tragedy of the commons. Boston was home to the first Liberty Tree, an elm near Boston Common that was a site where everyday people sought freedom from the Stamp Act in 1765 and where British soldiers enacted their freedom to make this tree an object of ridicule and a site of punishment. Samuel Adams preached revolutionary freedom from British taxes, even while his cousin John Adams argued that even British soldiers have the freedom to demand a fair trial. Boston’s Justice William Cushing ruled in 1781, that “all men are born free and equal” to demand that Bostonians of African descent be released from slavery, even as slaveholders and legislators sustained laws that allowed the freedom to hold slaves until the end of the Civil War. Throughout the Civil War, the first Red Scare of the 1920s, the busing and desegregation struggles of the 1970s and 80s, and to today in dozens of other examples, Boston has been a place where <freedom> has been a contested ground.

Our presence in Boston invites us to consider how the tensions in <freedom> are also present in our discipline. What does communication give us the <freedom> to do? What does it give us <freedom> from? What are the uses and abuses of free communication? When have others used their freedom to communicate to prevent freedom from other forces? And, when have we used the freedom to communicate to gain freedom from these forces? Submissions that explore these kinds of questions are particularly welcome.

Submission of Completed Papers

Individual submissions of complete papers should not have been presented previously at another conference, (with the exception of a student-only conference), be accepted for publication, or have been published.

Submission of complete papers should include the following elements:

  1. A detachable title page with the title of the paper and the author’s affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, and email address. Please include the contact information for everyone who is on the paper (name, affiliation, address, phone #, & e-mail). You do NOT need to send the cover page as a separate file. If the paper has multiple authors, please use an asterisk to indicate who will be presenting at the convention.
  2. The word “Debut” marked on all papers written by authors who have not presented previously at a regional or national convention.
  3. Where appropriate, label “STUDENT” in the upper right-hand corner of the title page. All authors must be students to be considered a student paper.
  4. Audio-visual requests should be listed on the detachable title page. Please note that equipment availability is limited.
  5. A one-page (250-500 word) abstract on the second page (with title appearing on this page).
  6. The manuscript should not exceed the maximum of 25 pages of text, excluding references and tables. There should be no information in the paper that identifies the author(s) (beyond that which appears on the title page). Please remove any identifiers, such as the author’s name, from the paper and electronic file from the header or on the file label. Please follow APA format guidelines.
  7. A statement of professional responsibility** (found below).

Submission of Program/Panel Proposals

Program/panel proposals should focus on some unifying theme or concept relevant to research, theory, or instruction in the area of health communication and typically include 3-5 presenters. We encourage you to present your work as a roundtable discussion, an interactive session (engaging participants and attendees), a debate, a workshop session, a performance, or using other innovative formats. Programs co-sponsored with other Interest Groups are welcome.

Submission of program/panel proposals should include the following elements:

  1. A thematic title for the program/panel.
  2. Names of the chair and respondents (if any). Chairs should not also be designated as respondents. We also request that any person serving as respondent not be a participant in the panel or roundtable.
  3. Names, mailing addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, and institutional affiliations of all participants (Chairs, Respondents, Presenters).
  4. Titles and abstracts (1-2 paragraph/s) for each paper or presentation.
  5. A program copy (no more than a 75-word description) as it should appear in the final program.
  6. A detailed rationale for the program/panel and explanation of how the papers/presentations are thematically linked.
  7. A note about the presentation style (traditional panel, interactive session, debate, roundtable discussion, workshop session, performance, or other innovative formats).
  8. Audio-visual request. Please note that equipment availability is limited.
  9. A statement of professional responsibility** (found below).

**Statement of Professional Responsibility

The following statement MUST be included with every submission of a paper or panel in order for it to be eligible for review:

In submitting the attached paper or proposal, I/We recognize that this submission is considered a professional responsibility. I/We agree to present this panel or paper if it is accepted and programmed. I/We further recognize that all who attend and present at ECA’s annual meeting must register and pay required fees.

Please send your submissions and/or inquiries to the Health Communication Interest Group Chair, Dr. Rukhsana Ahmed, at <ecahealthcom2017@gmail.com>. All submissions should be submitted as either a .doc/.docx, .odt, or .pdf file. Remember, the deadline for submissions is 11:59 PDT October 15, 2016.

NOTE: Please note that acceptance of a paper or panel proposal obligates authors to attend the conference and present the paper. For program/panel presentation, the organizer is expected to take responsibility for communication with the Interest Chair, alert her to any changes or problems and ensure that panelists register for the conference and deliver their papers/presentations.

For additional pertinent information regarding the conference, please visit: http://www.ecasite.org/aws/ECA/pt/sp/p_Home_Page

Thanks so much and I look forward to receiving your proposals to help us enact <Freedom>!

Sincerely,

Rukhsana Ahmed, Ph.D.
Chair and 2017 Program Planner
Health Communication Interest Group
Eastern Communication Association

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