Communication, Medicine and Ethics Conference

The Conference on Communication, Medicine and Ethics (COMET) evolved in 2003 at Cardiff (UK) to bring together communication researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds, ranging from healthcare specialities to the human and social sciences. Following the overwhelming success of the first conference (attended by more than 200 participants from 20 countries), which was hosted by the Health Communication Research Centre at Cardiff University, COMET has now established itself as an annual interdisciplinary, international event. The Institute of Communication and Health from the Università della Svizzera italiana will host the COMET 12th edition in Lugano (Switzerland) from 26th to 28th June 2014.Two outstanding researchers will deliver the keynote speeches: Prof. Peter Salmon Peter Salmon is Professor at the Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom and Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Royal Liverpool University Hospital. His research is on the psychology and psychobiology of health care and, particularly, health care communication. He has a particular emphasis on patients with unexplained symptoms, from aetiological factors (including childhood abuse) through the ways that medical treatment is negotiated between patients and doctors, to psychological treatment. More recently his research has focused on cancer care and the ways in which clinical communication in practice, and clinical communication guidance, can meet or thwart patients' needs.Prof. Julia van WeertJulia van Weert is Associate Professor in Health Communication at the Amsterdam School of Communicatie Research/ASCoR and Program Group Director of Persuasive Communication, Department of Communication Science at the University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on health communication, particularly on patients’ information and communication needs, patient-provider interaction, information processing and effects of interventions. She is also very interested in new media strategies to deliver health messages, such as eHealth and Entertainment-Education. This concerns our understanding of how information on a website should be presented to patients but also the effects of exposure to a pre-visit tailored website on communication during consultation. A major aim is to unravel the complicated dynamics between information provision and patients’ cognitive outcomes, emotional outcomes and relational outcomes. She has a special interest in effective communication with older patients and was awarded a personal grant by the Dutch Cancer Society to develop the research line ‘OncoCommunicAging (OCA)’. Ultimately, this research line aims to establish evidence- and theory-based guidance for the development of optimal patient education for older cancer patients.http://www.comet.usi.ch/