Category: We Heart Health Literacy

Here at We ❤️ Health Literacy Headquarters, we come across the word “adverse” a lot. Adverse drug events, adverse reactions, adverse childhood experiences… it’s a real health jargon regular! And, like most jargon terms, “adverse” has no place in consumer health materials.

Of course, as a health communicator, you’ll often need to communicate about an adverse something-or-other. For example, if you’re describing treatment options for a disease, explaining the potential side effects is really important!

But you can write about risks, side effects, and other unpleasant outcomes without calling them adverse anything! Here are a few simple plain language swaps to use instead.

Try this:

• Most people have mild side effects from the vaccine.
• If you have a bad reaction to the medicine, call your doctor right away.
• Kids who have difficult experiences in childhood are more likely to have health problems as adults.

Not that:

• Most people have mild adverse events from the vaccine.
• If you have an adverse reaction to the medicine, call your doctor right away.
• Kids who have adverse childhood experiences are more likely to have health problems as adults.

The bottom line: Ditch “adverse” in favor of plain language terms like “side effects” and “bad reactions.”

Tweet about it: “Adverse” is a health jargon regular (think “adverse events”) — but it’s not a good fit for #PlainLanguage health materials. @CommunicateHlth suggests some simple swaps: https://bit.ly/3cfJKqE #HealthLit

As health communicators, we spend a lot of time encouraging people to avoid health risks. And often, the first step is convincing them that there is a risk in the first place!

You may be tempted to tell them all the scary things that could happen if they don’t change their ways. (Don’t be too accommodating to cats, or they may… dun dun dun… TAKE UP RESIDENCE ON YOUR HEAD!) But we know that fear appeals are tricky to use effectively.

So what’s a health communicator to do? Fear not! The Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) is here to save the day. The EPPM, developed by Dr. Kim Witte, explains that health risk messages tend to get people thinking about 2 things: threat and efficacy.

Perceived threat describes how people think about a particular health risk. It has 2 parts:

• Perceived severity (“How bad is cat head, really?”)
• Perceived susceptibility (“What’s the chance of me personally getting cat head?”)

Perceived efficacy describes how people think about behaviors to prevent the health risk. It also has 2 parts:

• Perceived response efficacy (“Does keeping your hair wet at all times really prevent cat head?”)
• Perceived self-efficacy (“Can I personally go through life with eternally wet hair?”)

According to the EPPM, how we perceive threat and efficacy determines our health behaviors.

How does this work in practice, you ask? Let’s say you try a fear appeal. You make a scary TV commercial that shows a person with a truly dire case of cat head. At the end, in big spooky font, the commercial says: “CAT HEAD: IS IT COMING FOR YOU?”

The first person who sees your commercial thinks, “How unfortunate for that poor fellow. But my cat just isn’t the clingy type, so clearly cat head can’t happen to me.” They don’t perceive that the threat is relevant to them (low perceived susceptibility), so they don’t take any action to avoid it.

The second person who sees your post thinks, “Oh no! I, too, have a head and a cat. So I could catch cat head any moment!” You got their attention — but now they’re too terrified to take any preventive measures (sky-high perceived severity and susceptibility). Instead of taking action, they choose to hide under the bed.

What went wrong here? According to EPPM, the key to an effective health risk message is a delicate balance between perceived threat and efficacy. Fear can be a powerful motivator, but we don’t want to motivate people to hide under the bed. We want them to feel that the threat is personally relevant to them, but also feel confident that they can take steps to prevent it.

So let’s try this message again, with a better balance of threat and efficacy: “Anyone who treats cats with too much courtesy is at risk for cat head. But the good news is that you can protect yourself by keeping your hair cold, wet, and inhospitable to cats. Ask your doctor if wet hair is right for you.”

We don’t know about you, dear readers, but we’re feeling more in control of our cat head risk already.

The bottom line: Take a cue from the Extended Parallel Process Model — balance threat and efficacy to help your audience avoid health risks.

Tweet about it: How can we motivate our audiences to prevent health risks? According to the Extended Parallel Process Model, it’s all about balancing threat & efficacy. @CommunicateHlth explains how you can strike the right balance in your #HealthLit materials: https://bit.ly/2T8hKP2

We’ve talked about a few different platforms in our social media series (including the Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram trifecta). But today, we’re tackling a very different social networking beast: TikTok.

We know what you’re thinking, dear readers — TikTok? Really? The platform Gen Z uses to show off their dance moves and make fun of millennials’ style choices? We’re here to tell you that TikTok is much more than that. It’s a place where anyone can post short videos about anything — including health content!

From workout tips to eye health mythbusting to COVID vaccine explanations, TikTok has it all when it comes to health-related topics. But why should you fling your content into the TikTok void? Consider this: as of last year, TikTok had been downloaded more than 2 billion times — and it was the most-downloaded app in 2020.

So in the spirit of reaching people where they are, use these tips to TikTok-ify your health content:

• Be authentic. One of TikTok’s greatest strengths as a platform is that it provides real content from real people. The best-performing videos showcase the person’s authentic experience and voice — whether they already have a huge following or just downloaded the app yesterday. So feel free to let your winning personality shine through when you’re creating content for TikTok!
• Use humor. One thing that successful TikTok videos generally have in common is that they’re funny. Not all health topics will lend themselves to humor, of course — but sometimes a lighthearted approach can help people talk about a tricky subject. And sometimes it just helps us handle hard stuff! Take the proliferation of bubonic plague TikToks during the pandemic, for example.
• Hashtag it. If you spend any time at all on social media, hashtags are probably familiar faces. TikTok hashtags work in much the same way that hashtags work on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter — so use them to add your voice to the conversation! Make sure to tag your videos with relevant and trending hashtags. And always use “#fyp” or “#ForYou” so it’s more likely your TikToks will land on people’s For You pages (where the TikTok algorithm shows you content it thinks you’ll like).
• Respond to others’ TikToks. You can reply to someone else’s video with a feature called “stitching.” Your TikTok will show a clip of the video you’re stitching, followed by your content. It’s a great way to have a conversation — or even combat some health misinformation!
• Caption your videos. Always add captions (on-screen text that displays dialogue) to your videos. Captions don’t only benefit people who are Deaf or hard of hearing — they also make your content accessible to people who have their sound muted! There’s even a handy new feature to add captions automatically.

The bottom line: TikTok is an opportunity to share your health content in new and fun ways. (And seriously, all the cool kids are doing it.)

Tweet about it: TikTok for #HealthComm? That’s right, says @CommunicatHlth. Get tips for using Gen Z’s fave platform to share your #HealthLit content: https://bit.ly/3eOV133

Here’s something we can probably all agree on: sometimes, making health-related decisions is really hard. We’ve written in the past about shared decision-making and tools to support it. But this week, dear readers, we wanted to take a deeper dive into decision aids.

As health communicators, we know we need to talk about the pros and cons of each possible choice — that’s a must-have for informed consent! But when someone is facing a particularly difficult choice — like how to approach end-of-life care — we can take it a step further.

That’s where decision aids come in. A decision aid is a tool that goes beyond a general list of pros and cons to help people think through how the risks and benefits of each option stack up for them personally. And while decision aids can’t replace a conversation with a doctor, they can make those conversations more efficient and productive.

Use these tips to make your decision aid shine:

• Keep it brief. If your decision aid looks long or dense, people will be much less likely to use it — so save that nice-to-know info for later.
• Make it personal. To engage patients, include interactive elements like yes/no or multiple-choice questions, write-in fields, and sections for notes. Consider using a digital format that allows for a bite-snack-meal approach so users can further personalize their experience.
• Use numbers wisely. Check out these numeracy best practices to make sure you’re clearly and accurately communicating about risk or the chance of a certain health outcome.
• Talk about values. Health outcomes aren’t the only variable at play when people make medical decisions. Make sure your decision aid helps people consider how each option aligns with their values and beliefs, their family situation, their finances, and anything else that may be important to them. (Keep in mind that sometimes decisions can come down to things like whether people can take a day off work or how okay they are with some pain or discomfort.)
• Include clear next steps. For example, that could mean talking to a doctor about their decision and any questions they still have.
• Test, test, test! There’s only one way to know for sure that your decision aid is hitting the mark — go out and test it with your intended audiences!

For a more detailed rundown of decision aid best practices, see this evidence-based checklist from the International Patient Decision Aid Standards Collaboration.

The bottom line: When people are facing tough choices about their health, decision aids can help them think through their options and make the choice that’s right for them. 

Tweet about it: Making health-related decisions isn’t always a walk in the park, but health communicators can help. @CommunicateHlth weighs the pros (and pros!) of creating #HealthLit decision aids: https://bit.ly/2SrWVgZ #HealthComm

As health communicators, we’re always looking for creative ways to share health messages — whether that’s through pictograms, videos, or good old-fashioned words. We also like to keep an eye on how language is changing over time — and emojis are a big part of that!

Quick refresher for the analog among us: emojis are small images you can drop into written text, like so: ?❤️? ?. Researchers have found that people use emojis as a written equivalent to gesture — so while emojis can’t replace text in health materials, they can complement it and make it feel more conversational. That’s why we ❤️ emojis here at We ❤️ Health Literacy Headquarters.

You won’t be surprised, dear readers, to hear us say that emojis aren’t appropriate for every audience, situation, or message. To figure out how emojis might fit into your health materials, consider the following:

• Who’s your audience? Some older or less tech-savvy audiences may be less familiar with emojis.
• What’s your topic? Emojis contribute to a fun, lighthearted tone — so if that’s not what you’re going for, probably best to skip ‘em.
• Is it a digital material? For the most part, people don’t expect to see emojis in print.
• What’s your accessibility plan? Most screen-readers will read the name of each emoji (for example, reading ? as “grinning face”). But some browsers or devices won’t load them properly — so make sure your content still makes sense without them.
• Is your message clear? Some emojis have developed… let’s call them alternate meanings. If you’re not fluent in internet, google or check an emoji site first to make sure your emojis don’t have any unwanted connotations.

And of course, we can’t talk about emojis in 2021 without noting that some health-related emojis have emerged as real MVPs during the COVID-19 pandemic — like a face wearing a mask ?. And Apple and Google are releasing a new, blood-free design for their syringe emoji ?. Since people are already using the syringe to represent COVID-19 vaccination, this change will help make vaccination seem a bit less scary — and we ❤️ that.

The bottom line: Try using emojis to add a fun, conversational feel to your digital health materials. 

Tweet about it: Want to add a ✨ fun, conversational feel ✨ to your digital #HealthLit materials? Consider inviting emojis to the party ?, says @CommunicateHlth: https://bit.ly/2QPiwPA

This week, in the spirit of spring cleaning, we’re taking a break from our normal content to tell you about a few important housekeeping items.

The most important thing is that we’ve moved! You may know that while our weekly emails come to you via MailChimp, our blog content has been permanently hosted on Medium. But not anymore. Now, dear readers, your very favorite We ❤ Health Literacy content will live at — wait for it — We ❤ Health Literacy Headquarters!

That’s right, from now on we’ll be hosting our own content on its very own cozy blog corner of our very own website. Please note that we’ll be ironing out any kinks over the next few months — like making sure everything is tagged correctly and so forth. But fear not! You don’t have to do anything to keep getting our weekly emails. Just know that if you want to reference a post on the web going forward, it’s bye-bye Medium and hello CommunicateHealth website.

Speaking of which, you may have noticed that we recently launched a newly designed CommunicateHealth website! We’re very excited about our new lewk (we do plain language and hip language), and we’ve added lots of new content to our portfolio.

If you have questions about any of this, feel free to respond to this email and we’ll get back to you. And we’ll see you next week with our regularly scheduled installment of We ❤ Health Literacy!

Here at We ❤ Health Literacy Headquarters, we’re always looking for ways to build stronger connections with our audiences. And using the right voice and tone is one way to forge that connection! So this week, we’re sharing tips to help you identify a clear voice and tone in your health writing.

First, a little refresher on what voice and tone mean. Voice is constant. It’s a key part of your identity — an expression of personality that comes out through your writing. In the corporate world, it’s often called “brand voice,” but it’s not just for the Apples and Fords. Whether you work for a Fortune 500 company, a government agency, or a community nonprofit, you need a consistent voice.

But what is voice, exactly? Think about how you can recognize your favorite singer even if you’ve never heard the song before — that’s because their voice is distinctive across different songs (or in our case, health materials!).

Tone, on the other hand, is situational. It varies based on the specific topic, the context, and your audience’s likely emotional state. So while voice stays the same across a website or campaign, tone may change slightly from page to page or tweet to tweet.

Think of it this way: No matter who you’re talking to, you’re still yourself — that’s your voice. But you wouldn’t talk to your best friend the same way you’d talk to your boss, or your sworn enemy, or the teller at your bank — you vary your tone based on who you’re talking to and what the conversation is about.

So, how do you figure out the right voice and tone to use? We often define voice and tone as a series of adjectives — like “friendly, compassionate, and sincere.” And to really bring out the nuance, it can be helpful to think about what your voice or tone is and what it isn’t. For example, you might describe your health communication campaign’s voice as:

• Optimistic, but not naive
• Friendly, but not overly familiar
• Informational, but not dry

When it comes to tone, you’ll need to get more specific. What’s the health topic at hand? What is the audience likely thinking or feeling while reading about it? For example, a playful, quirky tone might be perfect for sharing general healthy eating tips, but it wouldn’t be a good fit in nutrition tips for people starting chemotherapy. In that case, the tone might be:

• Motivating, but not overly upbeat
• Comforting, but not patronizing
• Serious, but not dire

The bottom line: To build a stronger connection with your audiences, think through the voice and tone of your health comm materials before you write.

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Tweet about it: Want to make your #HealthComm materials sound just right? Being intentional about voice and tone can help, and @CommunicateHlth’s got tips! https://bit.ly/3d1ksNJ #HealthLiteracy 

Here at We ❤ Health Literacy Headquarters, we’re big fans of both preventive health care and preventing the spread of COVID-19. So these days, dear readers, we really ❤ telehealth. According to CDC, 4 in 10 U.S. adults have avoided health care due to COVID-19 concerns. That’s, well, concerning! People need routine health care, pandemic or no — and telehealth lets them get it with zero anxiety about also getting COVID at their visit.

As health communicators, we can teach our audiences about telehealth and encourage them to give it a try. Start with a simple definition for the newbies out there: Telehealth — sometimes called telemedicine or a virtual visit — is basically remote health care. If you’re using a computer, phone, or tablet for a doctor visit, that’s telehealth.

And while telehealth certainly can’t take the place of all in-person visits, it’s a great option for things like:

• Yearly checkups with your primary care doctor
• Dermatology visits
• Mental health counseling
• Nutrition counseling
• Follow-up visits to share test results

Once you’ve covered the basics, highlight some key telehealth benefits:

• It’s safer. Right now, telehealth’s main selling point is that it allows folks to stay connected to care without the risk of getting COVID at a doctor’s office or hospital. Just think of it like social distancing, but with your doctor.
• It’s faster. When you cut out the commute, the waiting room, the second waiting room (er, exam room), the visit gets a whole lot shorter — and a whole lot easier to fit into a busy schedule. And who’s ever said, “I wish I spent more time sitting in waiting rooms”? That’s right. No one!
• It increases access. Telehealth is particularly helpful for people who need to see a specialist but don’t live near one — and it removes the transportation barrier in general. Many telehealth providers also offer appointments outside traditional doctor’s office hours, making it easier for people to find times that work for them.

So encourage your audiences to ask if their doctors offer telehealth — and to check with their insurance carriers to make sure it’s covered.

And finally, while COVID safety won’t be as much of an issue in the future (we sure hope!), 2 of the 3 benefits above will hold true long after the pandemic is over. So while it’s an excellent tool for keeping people connected to care during COVID, we think telehealth is here to stay.

The bottom line: Encourage your audiences to explore telehealth — during COVID-19 and beyond.

Tweet about it: #Telehealth is a safe, effective way to get routine health care — during the pandemic and beyond. @CommunicateHlth has tips for explaining the benefits of telehealth to your audiences: https://bit.ly/3sAuk6F #communicateCOVID

Here at We ❤ Health Literacy Headquarters, periods are our second favorite punctuation mark. (You’ll always be first in our heart, em dash!) But that’s not what we’re talking about today. We’re here to chat about the other kind of period — the menstrual kind.

As you know, dear readers, we always aim to use clear and accurate language to talk about bodies — even some of those, ahem, less elegant functions — and periods are no exception. Check out these tips:

• Stick to plain language words like “period.” “Menstruation” is a bit much, so just call it a period when you can. In more in-depth materials, where “menstruation” and “menstrual” may be need-to-know terms, be sure to include a definition. We ❤ this one from Planned Parenthood: “Menstruation — aka having your period — is when blood and tissue from your uterus comes out of your vagina. It usually happens every month.”
• Skip the euphemisms. When you’re texting your BFF, feel free to talk about “a visit from Aunt Flo” or “that time of the month.” But these terms may not be clear to everyone, so we generally leave them out of our health materials. Speaking of which…
• Know your audience. In particular, attitudes around periods vary a lot in different cultures. When in doubt, test with your intended audience to make sure your content resonates.
• Leave “feminine” out of it. Equating periods with womanhood is not a good look. There are plenty of women who don’t have periods — because they are transgender, take certain medicines, or have a health condition like PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) or low body weight. And there are plenty of transgender men and non-binary people who do have them. Plus, gendered terms like “feminine products” are way less clear than alternatives like… wait for it… “pads and tampons.”

The bottom line: When writing about menstruation, choose clear, plain language terms that everyone can understand. Period.

Tweet about it: Let’s talk periods. (No, not the grammatical kind!) Check out @CommunicateHlth’s tips on writing inclusive #PlainLanguage content about menstruation: https://bit.ly/3vgg8RS #HealthLit