Daena Goldsmith

Associate Professor of Communication

department: Communication
office: 368 John R. Howard Hall
phone: 503-768-7613
mailstop: 35
e-mail: daena@lclark.edu

History

My interests in dilemmas of interpersonal communication began during my undergraduate years at Lewis and Clark: How do we accomplish interpersonal tasks (such as giving advice, gaining compliance, or expressing support) while simultaneously enacting valued identities and relational definitions? Graduate student at University of Washington gave me an appreciation for how these communication processes are shaped by social networks and cultural systems. I began applying these interests to health-related problems as a faculty member at the University of Illinois.

My current research focuses on couples in which one person is coping with a chronic health condition such as heart disease, cancer, or HIV. For example, how can you encourage your partner to eat better without sounding like a nag? How do couples talk about fears related to illness and treatments? Under what conditions is social support from friends and family helpful in coping with illness?

I am a native Oregonian and I love to go with my family to the beach, the mountains, or the desert. I also enjoy swimming, reading, knitting, and cooking.

Scholarly interests

Interpersonal communication, health communication, social support, self-disclosure, gender, culture

Education

B. S. Lewis and Clark College
M.A., Ph.D. University of Washington

Professional affiliations

National Communication Association, International Communication Association, International Association for Personal Relationships Research

Publications

My book, Communicating Social Support, was published in 2004 with Cambridge University Press. My research has also appeared in Communication Monographs, Human Communication Research, Social Science and Medicine, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Health Communication, and Communication Yearbook.