Integrating design science theory and methods to improve the development and evaluation of health communication programs.

Traditional communication theory and research methods provide valuable guidance about designing and evaluating health communication programs. However, efforts to use health communication programs to educate, motivate, and support people to adopt healthy behaviors often fail to meet the desired goals. One reason for this failure is that health promotion issues are complex, changeable, and highly related to the specific needs and contexts of the intended audiences. It is a daunting challenge to effectively influence health behaviors, particularly culturally learned and reinforced behaviors concerning lifestyle factors related to diet, exercise, and substance (such as alcohol and tobacco) use. Too often, program development and evaluation are not adequately linked to provide rapid feedback to health communication program developers so that important revisions can be made to design the most relevant and personally motivating health communication programs for specific audiences. Design science theory and methods commonly used in engineering, computer science, and other fields can address such program and evaluation weaknesses. Design science researchers study human-created programs using tightly connected build-and-evaluate loops in which they use intensive participatory methods to understand problems and develop solutions concurrently and throughout the duration of the program. Such thinking and strategies are especially relevant to address complex health communication issues. In this article, the authors explore the history, scientific foundation, methods, and applications of design science and its potential to enhance health communication programs and their evaluation.