Human-Centered Communication in Digital Health Portals: A Partnership with Wood County Community Health Center

Co-PI: Keith Instone

This community-engaged research partnership with Wood County Community Health Center examines patient-facing communication within digital health portals, with a focus on InteliChart. The project explores how patients interpret, trust, and engage with portal messages, reminders, and digital interfaces in everyday health management.

Grounded in Human–Machine Communication and health communication scholarship, the project is conducted in collaboration with COMM 4440 Health Communication students and UX-focused Computer Science students, who work alongside community partners to analyze, design, and evaluate patient-facing communication. Together, we investigate how communication design shapes access, clarity, relational trust, and perceptions of care in automated health systems, with the goal of supporting more equitable, transparent, and human-centered digital health communication practices.