New trends of health communication: an introduction

Wellbeing reaches into every domain of life, with communication central to that shift. News avoidance, digital disconnection and doomscrolling are increasingly framed in health terms, revealing how communication environments shape wellbeing. Building on health communication scholarship reaching beyond communication about and for health, this introduction argues that communication environments are everyday settings where health and wellbeing are produced, making them determinants of health. This brings in journalism, political communication and platform studies, and shifts responsibility from individual self-care to journalists, platforms and policymakers. We propose information wellbeing, how far everyday dealings with information sustain or erode emotional balance and psychological needs, to help frame this expanded scope. We introduce the six articles from AANZCA 2025 examine gaming and mothers’ wellbeing, streamers as unintentional health influencers, platform policy and HIV outreach, trauma-informed news framing, neurodiversity in trade press, and telehealth in disability policy. Together, they position health communication as communication for, about and as health.