Dr. Joy V. Goldsmith
BERNARD J. BROMMEL AWARD WINNER
University of Memphis professor of communication studies Dr. Joy V. Goldsmith received the 2020 Bernard J. Brommel Award for Outstanding Scholarship or Distinguished Service in Family Communication from the National Communication Association (NCA).
The Brommel Award recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the area of family communication. Goldsmith’s research lies at the intersection of family and health communication, with a particular interest in family interactions surrounding chronically and terminally ill patients.
“I was overwhelmed and full of gratitude to receive this award,” Goldsmith said. “Every bit of work I have ever done has been performed in concert with collaborators and community partners. So, I feel like this award recognizes that collaborative approach and all of its moving parts. The research I choose is applied and translational. This award acknowledges that commitment on a national level.”
Goldsmith’s award was presented virtually Nov. 21 during the 106th NCA Annual Convention.
“NCA’s annual awards honor communication scholars’ teaching, scholarship and service,” said NCA executive director Trevor Parry-Giles. “NCA is proud to recognize Dr. Goldsmith’s significant contributions to the communication discipline with this award.”
As the founder and co-director of the UofM Center for Health Literacy and Health Communication, Goldsmith leads an effort to help develop health literacy and health communication interventions, resources and networks for providers, patients, family caregivers, health systems and community organizations.
“We have the opportunity to test and pilot interdisciplinary communication interventions and involve our students directly with this engaged research,” Goldsmith said. “We have done recent work with HIV in Memphis and are preparing for spring studies in homeless health care and breast cancer screening outreach. We are the only place that features the science of health communication together with health literacy.”
The COVID-19 public health emergency has made communication research more urgent and relevant than ever. As a new phenomenon, many journals and organizations across the world produced unproven theories with missing evidence regarding COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic. For Goldsmith and researchers like her, this has presented a chance to fill in the gaps and help lead the fight against the virus.
“I now have this opportunity to impact practitioners and patients and their families
with robust research that is centered in communication science,” Goldsmith said. “Communication
interventions are the most affordable to employ in health care. The challenge is figuring
out what is needed, what will work and how to disseminate interventions to the right
stakeholders to improve challenges.”
In 2012, Goldsmith developed a mobile health app specific to palliative care. She recently received an award to fund a revision of the app with an emphasis on communication specific to COVID-19 that can be applied in a range of health care settings.
With the new content added to the mobile app, it will be used in undergraduate nursing programs as well as by practicing providers in medicine, nursing, social work and chaplaincy to support challenging communication with patients, families and team members.
The Brommel Award, the Center for Health Literacy and Health Communication and the app redevelopment to help in the COVID-19 battle are defining examples of Goldsmith’s remarkable work as a UofM faculty member.
“It is an honor to be part of the UofM,” Goldsmith said. “I feel highly supported in all of my work and ideas, most especially on the University level. Partners across campus and in the community have made it exciting and rewarding to cut a path in the areas of caregiver research, chronic illness and health literacy.