PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Health Communication
Redefining health communication through narrative intersection: opening closed narratives and co-creating meaning
Provisionally accepted
- 1The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Japan
- 2Tokyo Daigaku, Bunkyo, Japan
- 3Hoshi Yakka Daigaku, Shinagawa, Japan
- 4Iwate Ika Daigaku, Shiwa District, Japan
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
We aimed to propose a new conceptualization of health communication that mitigates the limitations of traditional one-way models by introducing a relational, narrative-based approach that emphasizes mutual understanding. This paper critiques existing definitions and proposes an alternative framework by reviewing interdisciplinary literature on Narrative Medicine, narrative identity theory, and health communication research. The paper introduces "narrative intersection" as a concept that describes how divergent narratives engage in dialogic meaning-making. Health communication is redefined as the study and practice of opening closed narratives and co-creating shared meanings through narrative intersections to improve health. This redefinition shifts focus from merely delivering information to fostering dialogue and co-constructing meaning. It provides a unifying framework for diverse domains, such as clinical communication and public health messaging, while addressing issues such as resistance to evidence-based recommendations and the spread of misinformation. Narrative intersections offer a grounded, ethically responsive, and practically relevant framework for advancing health communication by emphasizing the importance of dialogue, narrative contexts, and the structural conditions that shape the voices that are heard.
Keywords: Health Communication, definition, Narrative, narrative-based medicineNarrative Medicine, Story, Patient-Centered Care
Received: 25 Jul 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Okuhara, Okada, Yokota and Kagawa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tsuyoshi Okuhara, okuhara-ctr@umin.ac.jp
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.