Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Chapter 1. Introducing Digital Health Discourse
1.1. Introduction
1.2. What is Digital Health?
1.3. What is digital health discourse?
1.4. The micro and macro of digital health discourse
1.5. Overview of this book
Chapter 2. Collecting and analysing digital health discourse data
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Applying theory
2.3. Sampling data
2.4. Collecting and storing data
2.5. Ethical considerations
2.6. Analysing data
2.6.1. Focusing on narrative
2.6.2. Focusing on interaction
2.6.3. Focusing on context
2.6.4. Focusing on power
2.6.5. Focusing on frequency
2.7. Reflexivity
2.8. In summary
Chapter 3. Health query interfaces
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Online health queries
3.2.1. ‘Ask the doctor’
3.2.2. Conversational agents in health communication
3.3. Analysing digital health queries and responses
3.3.1. Facework
3.3.2. Discourse patterns in health queries
3.4. Features of online health queries
3.4.1. Forms of inquiry
3.4.2. Demonstrating expertise
3.4.3. Humanity
3.5. In summary
Chapter 4. Online support groups
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Online support group characteristics
4.2.1. The structure of online support groups
4.2.2. Attending to unmet health needs
4.2.3. Anonymity
4.3. Analysing the discourse of online support groups
4.3.1. Interactional approaches
4.3.2. Narratives
4.3.3. Coding communicative purposes
4.4. Features of health discourse in online support groups
4.4.1. Collective illness identities
4.4.2. Legitimation
4.4.3. Seeking and giving advice
4.5. In summary
Chapter 5. Websites
5.1. Introduction
5.2. Website characteristics
5.2.1. Historical developments
5.2.2. User navigation and interactivity
5.2.3. Linguistic hybridity and multimodality
5.2.4. Constructing (and contesting) health knowledge online
5.2.5. Genre hybridity and the influence of social forces
5.3. Analysing the discourse of websites
5.3.1. Getting critical
5.3.2. Scaling up
5.3.3. Framing the issue
5.4. Features of health discourse in websites
5.4.1. Constructing health knowledge
5.4.2. Negotiating and contesting health knowledge
5.4.3. The commercial web
5.5. In summary
Chapter 6. Social media
6.1. Introduction
6.2. Health communication and social media
6.2.1. A wide range of perspectives
6.2.2. Live updates
6.3. Analysing the discourse of social media
6.3.1. Finding health-related content
6.3.2. Conducting discourse analysis
6.3.3. Analysing visual content
6.4. Features of health discourse in social media
6.4.1. Community engagement
6.4.2. Authenticity
6.5. In summary
Chapter 7. Mobile health apps and patient feedback systems
7.1. Introduction
7.2. Platforms for narrating (self-)care
7.2.1. Mobile health apps
7.2.2. Patient feedback
7.3. Analysing narratives of (self)-care
7.3.1. Identifying narrative structures
7.3.2. Analysing mHealth in action: Mediated discourse analysis
7.4. Features of discourse in patient feedback and mobile health apps
7.4.1. Constructing narratives of, and around, (self-)care
7.4.2. Normalising ideas about health and (self-)care
7.5. In summary
Chapter 8. Concluding remarks
8.1. Introduction
8.2. Navigating digital health
8.2.1. Getting health advice
8.2.2. Connectivity
8.2.3. Shaping public health discourses
8.3. Learning from digital health discourse research
8.4. Current concerns in health discourse
8.4.1. Health languages
8.4.2. Social determinants of health
8.4.3. Rise of the machines
8.5. Closing remarks
Index
Biography
Luke C. Collins is a Research Associate in the School of Medical Sciences at Manchester University. He is the co-author of Corpus Linguistics for Health Communication- A Guide for Research (Routledge 2023) and author of Corpus Linguistics for Online Communication- A Guide for Research ( Routledge 2019)
Gavin Brookes is Reader, UKRI Future Leader Fellow and Fulbright Scholar in the School of Social Sciences at Lancaster University. He is the co-author of Corpus Linguistics for Health Communication- A Guide for Research (Routledge 2023) and Masculinities and Language (Routledge 2025).
"As digital health platforms continue to evolve, this book offers a timely and much-needed resource for scholars across social and health sciences interested in the complex intersections of language, digital technologies and health. The diversity of platforms and genres examined is complemented by an intellectually exciting agenda for future digital health communication research. A deeply engaging and inspirational must-read!"
Olga Zayts-Spence, University of Hong Kong
"Collins and Brookes have crafted a unique text at the intersection of digital health and discourse studies. They offer invaluable guidelines for ethical research design while demonstrating how an extended discourse analytic toolset can discern meaning across digital health data from help-seeking interactions with AI chatbots to informational webpages, social media, and Health."
Christopher J. Koenig, San Francisco State University
