Risk Communication

Risk communication is a broad term describing private or public dialogue and information dissemination related to risk, including its severity, acceptability, management, or mitigation. In addition to words, actions (especially those by government or industry) may implicitly communicate risk. At its most basic, risk communication expresses the quantitative probability of harm, damage, destruction, or other undesirable outcomes. However, risk communication also reflects the complex individual, social, political, and cultural contexts in which risk is constructed and therefore involves not just odds, but uncertainty, perception, emotion, and irrationality. Risk communication can be intentional or incidental, persuasive or objective, and often intersects with [Page 1176]health communication, crisis communication, and emergency communication. It is integral to patient–provider communication in health care settings and to the concept of informed ...