Exploring the Potential of Communication Infrastructure Theory for Informing Efforts to Reduce Health Disparities

Communication infrastructure theory (CIT) offers an ecological approach to studying ways to reduce health disparities. The theory suggests that individuals' connections to a multi-level storytelling system are enabled or constrained by the communication environment (a.k.a. communication action context). This article is a culmination of research to date that explores the potential of CIT to inform efforts directed at the reduction of health disparities. These studies have focused on geographic communities and/or ethnic groups known to experience health disparities. An argument is made for expanding the scope of this line of research, which to date has primarily focused on the relationship between integrated connections to the neighborhood storytelling network and health outcomes.