Interviews are purposeful conversations between two or more people that explore a topic of mutual interest through the asking and answering of questions. Although many interactions in health care contexts may take the form of an interview, two general interview types are particularly relevant to the field of health communication: medical interviews and research interviews. Medical interviews serve an important clinical function in health care and are a productive setting for health communication scholarship. Research interviews take a variety of formats and serve an integral role in health communication theory and practice.

Medical interviews are purposeful encounters between patients and health care providers that involve a process of gathering and sharing information in the context of a patient's primary health concern(s) or chief complaint, personal/familial medical ...