communicationare

Communicationare is a term used to describe a cross-disciplinary field that studies how communication practices influence care delivery and care outcomes. Derived from the words communication and care, it emphasizes the role of conversations, information exchange, and messaging in shaping experiences of care.

Contexts include healthcare, elder care, child care, social services, disability services, and digital care platforms. It examines interpersonal communication between caregivers and recipients, organizational communication within care teams, and the design of information materials, consent documents, and telecommunication interfaces.

The field draws on communication studies, health communication, sociology of care, human-computer interaction, and information design. Common methods include interviews, ethnography, discourse analysis, usability testing, and design experiments. Outcome metrics may cover safety, trust, satisfaction, adherence, and perceived clarity.

Applications include training programs to improve caregiver communication, redesigning care pathways for clearer handoffs, developing patient- and family-centered discharge information, and creating telecare tools that communicate effectively across diverse literacy and language needs.

As a nascent term, communicationare may overlap with existing disciplines such as health communication and user experience research. Critics call for clearer boundaries, rigorous evaluation, and ethical guidelines to prevent overstandardization or paternalistic messaging. Ongoing work focuses on interoperability and inclusive design.