Research Synthesis of Health Communication Challenges in the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic

 Health communication is an interdisciplinary field that connects two separate fields of media and health. The relationship between these two fields is two-way, and the media, in a general sense, with their dual nature and contradictory functions, can cause awareness, increase knowledge, and give hope in pandemics, or on the other hand, cause the spread of false information, panic, fear, and anxiety. Based on this, the aim of this article is to identify the challenges of health communication in pandemic conditions and especially the corona virus crisis.

 In order to achieve this aim, a research synthesis of foreign and domestic research conducted in the period of 2020 to 2023 regarding the Corona pandemic has been done. The sample size was determined based on theoretical sampling, 19 articles (8 foreign articles and 11 Iranian articles) and according to information saturation. To analyze the data according to the main problem of the research, the thematic coding method was used, which was analyzed in three stages: "open coding", "axial coding" and "selective coding".

 The research results from the research synthesis of the conducted research indicate the identification of 4 main challenges "Infodemic, low coefficient of social capital, malfunctioning of social networks and politicization of health" in the field of health communication in Iran.

 Considering the existing challenges and the synthesis of foreign research, it can be suggested that, on the one hand, "transparency and immediacy of information" and on the other hand, "people's empathy and trust" should be included in the health communication system and the Corona pandemic. It is worth noting that these categories were extracted based on the successful experience of other countries, the main elements of success in health communication and crisis communication during the corona pandemic and will be applicable in the conditions of possible future pandemics.