**2. Conceptual framework**

This proposed conceptual framework is a modified hybrid model (**Figure 1**), which was based on the work proposed by Kim et al. [18, 19] and Parse's human-becoming theory [20]. The model consists of three interrelated phases: a theoretical phase, a fieldwork phase, and a final analytical phase. In this chapter, only the theoretical phase of this framework was adapted to theoretically define the concept of HMD, which consists of the following four attributes: concepts (healthcare, design, and communication), an interdisciplinary approach, meanings and measurements, and working conditions. The fieldwork phase and the final analytical phase will not be discussed because of the scope of this study.

**Figure 1.** Conceptual framework.

organized provision of medical care to individuals or a community" [4]. Continuous healthcare focuses not on the treatment of disease but on the continuum of health management for curing, recovering, and healing through medical treatment, nursing, and caring throughout an individual's entire life within the systematic structure [5, 6]. In the provision of such services, communication between consumers and providers should be empathetic [2, 4]. Furthermore, there should be a strong social awareness of public healthcare services that are available. Therapeutic interactions through empathy make it possible to have insight into another person's thoughts or feelings, which, as we shall see, is vital to *salutogenic* healthcare [7, 8].

It is necessary for consumers to efficiently communicate with their healthcare providers in a safe, reliable, and informative way. Previous studies have reported that design should play an integral part in facilitating communication [6, 9, 10]. Recently, convergence research (or transdisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity) has been vigorously pushed forward [11], which entails integrating knowledge, theories, methods, data, and expertise from different disciplines and forming new frameworks, paradigms, or even disciplines to catalyze innovation across multiple research communities [6, 10, 11]. Healthcare design as a newly emerging discipline is an example of this approach, which focuses on therapeutic interactions between space and behavior for creating healing environments and improving health outcomes [6, 9, 10, 12, 13]. The importance of communication in healthcare has gained considerable attention especially with the rise of the concept of patient-centered care [14–17]. The patient-centered care model [16] stresses elements of health communication such as open-ended inquiry, reflective listening, empathy, and the identity (values and preferences) of individuals [17]. Designing messages effectively can serve as a medium of social communication [6, 10]. The goal of this interdisciplinary effort is to integrate design into health communication. Healthcare message design (HMD) is a new concept that needs to be defined philosophically and theoretically, which blends scientific disciplines in a coordinated, reciprocal way *to* develop effective ways of communicating across disciplines by adopting common frameworks and a new scientific language. This chapter introduces the concept of HMD based on philosophical underpinnings and theoretical frameworks and defines the process of HMD, which encompasses information, sustainability, partnership, publicness, integrity, and health promotion [6, 10]. Practically, it is expected that the content discussed in this chapter can provide a basis for

future research on the implementation of HMD toward social communication.

This proposed conceptual framework is a modified hybrid model (**Figure 1**), which was based on the work proposed by Kim et al. [18, 19] and Parse's human-becoming theory [20]. The model consists of three interrelated phases: a theoretical phase, a fieldwork phase, and a final analytical phase. In this chapter, only the theoretical phase of this framework was adapted to theoretically define the concept of HMD, which consists of the following four attributes: concepts (healthcare, design, and communication), an interdisciplinary approach, meanings and measurements, and working conditions. The fieldwork phase and the final analytical phase

**2. Conceptual framework**

28 Selected Issues in Global Health Communications

will not be discussed because of the scope of this study.
