Category: We Heart Health Literacy

Here at We ❤ Health Literacy Headquarters, we’ve been thinking a lot about how we discuss race, racism, and risk in our health materials. And with COVID-19 killing Black people and other people of color at vastly disproportionate rates, it’s more urgent than ever to get this tricky conversation right.

So let’s take a run-of-the-mill risk statement like this: “Black people are at higher risk of dying from COVID-19.” At first glance, that might seem like a useful piece of information. After all, the data clearly show the racial disparity in death rates. And communicating about risk can help people make informed health decisions, right? So… what’s wrong with it?

Well, there’s the little wrinkle that race is a social construct. So when we cite race as a risk factor for a biological condition, we’re often using it as a clumsy proxy for either genetic ancestry — which doesn’t neatly align with race — or social factors like access to health care.

So how can we do better? If a racial health disparity is related to a genetic trait (like sickle cell disease), be specific about that. And if it’s related to systemic racism or other social determinants of health, be specific about that, too. Try a statement like this: “Due to the health effects of racism, Black people are dying of COVID-19 at higher rates than white people.”

Naming racism as the risk factor here is more accurate — and it places the burden where it belongs: on racist systems and institutions. And systems and institutions can change if we all recognize their failures and work to correct them.

The bottom line: As health communicators, it’s our job to name racism — not race — as a risk factor for disease, when that’s what we’re really talking about.

Tweet about it: We need to name racism — not race — as a risk factor for disease when that’s what we’re really talking about, says @CommunicateHlth: https://bit.ly/34hQUr7 #HealthLit #communicateCOVID

We’ve written before about how numeracy can impact health decisions. And we know numeracy skills tend to decline when we’re under stress — like, say, during a global pandemic! So as health communicators, we need to help our readers parse the data in the COVID conversation.

Use these tips to help your audiences make sense of COVID numbers:

• Use numbers on a need-to-know basis. When people are bombarded by lots of numbers, they tend to tune out. So each time you use a number, ask if your reader really needs to see it. For example, in a short how-to about COVID testing, is the exact false positive rate need-to-know information? Or could that number distract from the key action step of getting tested?
• Define key data terms. Terms like “positive test rate” get thrown around so much these days that they start to feel familiar. But to most people, that’s still unfamiliar jargon. So instead of writing: “Your state has a 20 percent positive test rate,” try: “In the last week, 1 in 5 people in your state who got tested for COVID-19 had the disease.”
• Put numbers in context. Defining data-related terms is only half the battle! Readers also need context to understand why the numbers matter in the first place. So provide the relevant takeaway: “This high positive test rate means that your state isn’t testing enough people. That means lots of people in your state could have the virus and not know it.”
• Follow up with action steps. Turn information into action by pairing numbers with steps readers can take to keep themselves and others healthy. For example, “Right now, there are more than 500 cases of COVID-19 in your county. That’s a very high number — so it’s especially important to stay home as much as possible and wear a mask whenever you leave your home.”
• Help readers visualize data. Use graphics to bring the numbers to life. For example, the Covid Act Now map offers a visual snapshot of how the virus is affecting communities across the United States. These types of colorful visuals can help readers quickly grasp the level of risk in their area — and make more informed health decisions.

The bottom line: Help your readers understand COVID stats and use them to make better health decisions.

Tweet about it: Help your audiences make sense of stats when you #communicateCOVID! Use these #HealthLit numeracy-boosting tips from @CommunicateHlth: https://bit.ly/3kJc2fS

Here at We ❤ Health Literacy Headquarters, vaccines are a topic near and dear to our hearts. We’ve written in the past about tricky aspects of vaccine communication like herd immunity. And with a COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon (we hope!), we thought it was time to tackle another sneaky vaccine-related term: antibodies.

You might be thinking, do we really need to get into these weeds? Can’t we talk about vaccines without mentioning antibodies? Alas, no. Not in the time of COVID, anyway. With headlines about coronavirus antibody tests all over the news, health communicators will need to educate readers about these powerful little proteins.

So use these tips when you communicate about antibodies:

• Explain antibodies in plain language. Try this: Whenever your immune system meets a new germ, it makes new antibodies that “remember” that germ. So the next time that germ shows up, those antibodies will sound the alarm and help your body fight it off before it can make you sick.
• Stress that vaccines are the best way to get antibodies. It’s true that you can get antibodies from being sick with a disease. But vaccines let you skip the sickness and go straight to being protected. Doesn’t that sound more pleasant?

Your readers may also be wondering what it means to have antibodies to COVID-19. And unfortunately, experts just aren’t sure! Because COVID is so new, we’re still figuring out whether having COVID antibodies means that you’re immune to the disease.

And of course, dear readers, that’s why vaccines are so important. Through the trial process, scientists will find a vaccine (or more than 1) that is proven to give people effective antibodies to coronavirus — without risking their health in the process.

The bottom line: Explain antibodies to help your readers understand the amazing power of vaccines!

Tweet about it: With so many news headlines about #COVID19 antibody tests, we need to teach readers about these powerful little proteins. Check out @CommunicateHlth’s #HealthLit tips: https://bit.ly/33FCPmW #communicateCOVID

We don’t know about you, dear readers, but in this time of social distancing, we’ve been doing a whole lot of reading! So in this week’s edition of the We ❤ Health Literacy Book Club, we wanted to draw your attention to an absolute must-read for health nerds like us.

In Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America’s Most Storied Hospital, David Oshinsky tells the story of the oldest — and most notorious — public hospital in the country. This book has it all. Public health! Antiquated medical techniques! The city that never sleeps!

It’s also chock-full of something that’s top of mind as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on (and on and on): disease outbreaks. If you’re like us, you might find it calming to read about the many outbreaks (cholera, yellow fever, TB, typhus) that helped shape the hospital’s history — and that do not include coronavirus. Seems like the one place you won’t hear about COVID-19 these days is in a book that covers plagues from the past.

Bellevue touches on so much that it’s hard to choose the elevator pitch. Of course you’ll learn all about the history of the hospital itself — but that’s not all. In this historical page-turner, you’ll also find out:

• Why President Garfield might have survived that pesky assassination if he had gotten shot a liiiittle bit later
• What it was like to travel to the hospital in a horse-drawn ambulance
• How the groundbreaking report Sanitary Conditions of the City got people thinking about hygiene and sanitation before public health was really a thing
• What the AIDS crisis looked like to the doctors who treated the first wave of New York City patients (for more on this topic, check out our past Book Club picks And the Band Played On and Voices in the Band)
• Why you had to watch out for… dun dun dun… Prohibition poison liquor!

It’s also striking that this history book is full of challenges we’re still facing today, including the devastating health effects of racism and discrimination, the constant tension between public and private health care, and the consequences of an inadequate mental health care system. In this way, it can feel discouraging — how are we still grappling with so many of the same issues?

But if we return to the COVID-19 lens, things look brighter. The diseases behind the outbreaks in Bellevue’s pages all have one thing in common: they are now under control — and we have measures to effectively treat and prevent them. Let’s hope we’ll be saying the same of our current viral opponent before too long.

The bottom line: David Oshinsky’s Bellevue is a must-read for public health nerds everywhere.

Tweet about it: Need a summer book rec? Look no further than David Oshinsky’s Bellevue — it’s a true #PublicHealth page-turner, says @CommunicateHlth’s Book Club: https://bit.ly/30HvEry

We’ve seen lots of good guidance lately that focuses on how people can keep themselves safe and healthy during the pandemic. And that type of guidance is useful and necessary.

But here at We ❤ Health Literacy Headquarters, we’ve been thinking a lot about what’s missing from that advice: how to protect other people. Because in a pandemic, every personal risk is a public risk — and every personal choice to wear a mask or stay at home is a public service. That means when we focus too much on self-protection, we’re missing half the message.

Fortunately, most people want to do good and help others — and this desire to help those around us can even help motivate behavior change. So when you write about COVID-19, use these tips to keep the public front and center in this public health crisis:

• Help people feel helpful (or even heroic!). Tell your audience that even if they aren’t worried about themselves or their families getting sick, they have a chance to protect other people. Going out to eat? Think about the server and the person at the next table. Traveling by plane? Think about the flight crew and other passengers. Stress that when they avoid exposing others to the virus, they could be saving a life. And to make these public effects feel more, well, personal, try highlighting real stories of people who’ve been affected by COVID-19.
• Call out “COVID privilege.” Not everyone has the option to stay home, and many people working non-remote jobs are risking their lives for less than a living wage. So remind readers who have the privilege of isolating themselves and their families to consider this power imbalance. Encourage them to take a question like this: “Is it safe for me and my family to go on vacation/have someone clean our house/go to a salon?” And reframe it like this: “Is it safe for us and everyone we’ll come in contact with?”
• Draw helpful public health parallels. People may bristle at mask mandates because the concept is so new. So help your readers make the connection with more familiar public health measures. Do they pay attention to speed limits when driving? Refrain from smoking in restaurants? Cover their mouth when they cough? Masks are just like that — something we all need to do to keep our fellow humans safe and healthy.
• Keep their eyes on the prize. There’s no point pretending that COVID prevention is all a (socially distant) walk in the park. And your audience may feel that their responsible choices are meaningless in light of irresponsible choices by their elected leaders. But individual actions do make a difference in a pandemic. So remind them that joining in collective efforts to prioritize public health now could lead to a healthier future for all of us.

We also want to acknowledge that it’s only useful to understand how your choices impact others… if you actually have choices. For many people, doing things that expose others to risk — like coming within 6 feet of coworkers and sending kids to daycare — are economic necessities. So keep this distinction in mind, and offer harm reduction tips to help your readers reduce the risk to themselves and to those around them.

The bottom line: COVID-19 is a public health crisis — so help your readers act for the good of us all.

Tweet about it: When you #communicateCOVID, telling people how to protect themselves from #COVID19 isn’t enough. @CommunicateHlth explains how to keep the public in public health: https://bit.ly/2OwgfEH

There are lots of numbers floating around these days in relation to COVID-19. We’ve written before about how people struggle with numeracy — but mix that with a dash of pandemic anxiety, and you’ve got a recipe for widespread confusion.

So this week, dear readers, we want to share a favorite go-to resource for helping folks digest some of this data: the Covid Act Now map. Created by a team of tech wizards, health experts, and policy specialists, the map shows COVID-19 data and risk level by state (and county when possible). The tool focuses on 4 key questions:

• Are COVID cases decreasing?
• Are we testing enough?
• Are our hospitals ready?
• Are we tracing fast enough?

As health communicators, we know how important it is to accurately interpret and clearly communicate data to our readers. So let’s take a moment to appreciate how Covid Act Now breaks down key risk indicators into plain language questions that we can all understand.

We also ❤ how Covid Act Now dishes out color-coded visuals to help answer complicated questions without relying only on tricky numbers. And the map is updated constantly, so we can easily absorb what’s happening right now — and use that knowledge to make informed health decisions. (Pretty important in an ever-changing public health crisis.) Now that’s a recipe we’re happy to share!

The bottom line: Share clear, easy-to-understand resources like the Covid Act Now map to help people make sense of big data during the pandemic.

Tweet about it: Check out @CovidActNow for a great example of how we can help people understand complicated #COVID19 data, says @CommunicateHlth: https://bit.ly/3iLBdgL #communicateCOVID

As health communicators, we know that the best way to keep COVID-19 from spreading is (still!) to stay home. But we also know that with states and communities reopening, people will be venturing out more — and that means it’s time to talk about harm reduction.

In the case of COVID-19, of course we’ll continue to tell people that the safest choice is to stay home. But we also need to help people stay safer when do they go out.

And we need to acknowledge that for many people, staying home isn’t an option. Essential workers — and now, in many states, non-essential workers — have to leave their homes or risk losing their paychecks.

People nationwide are also heading out to protest another public health crisis: systemic racism and police violence. And while we can’t eliminate their risks entirely, we can help them stay safer.

So share these tips to help people protect themselves and others whenever they leave their homes — no matter the reason:

• Stay outside. Studies have found that people are much less likely to get COVID-19 when they’re outdoors. That makes parks and backyards far better choices than bars or malls.
• Keep your distance. Since the early days of the pandemic, public health experts have advised everyone to stay at least 6 feet away from people they don’t live with — and that guidance hasn’t changed. Two friends meeting up at the park, for example, are better off sitting several feet apart in the grass than rubbing elbows on a park bench.
• Keep it quick. Researchers think that the longer you’re around someone who has COVID-19, the higher your risk of getting infected. That means popping into a restaurant for a few minutes to grab takeout is less risky than sitting inside for an hour while you eat dinner.
• Keep it small. Spending time in a crowd — think parties, concerts, or packed restaurants — is a bad idea (even outdoors!). It’s hard to keep your distance from others, and more people means a higher risk that one of those people could have the virus. So keeping gatherings very small can help.
• Wear a mask — and stay away from people who aren’t wearing them. Evidence shows that wearing a cloth mask helps stop people from spreading COVID-19 to others. And since people without symptoms can still be contagious, everyone needs to wear masks whenever they can’t keep their distance.
• Wash your hands. A lot. Use hand sanitizer if there’s no soap and water available. And don’t touch your face. Sound familiar? That’s because tips for “practicing good hygiene” still apply, whether you’re at home or out and about.

As always, be sure to adapt these tips to fit your specific audience. Harm reduction might look a lot different for certain groups, like people who are experiencing homelessness. So remember to keep your audience front and center when you’re developing health comm products — that’s always part of our job, but it’s especially important now.

The bottom line: People won’t stay home indefinitely — so offer practical advice to help them lower their risk of catching or spreading COVID-19 when they do go out.

Tweet about it: The best way to keep #COVID19 from spreading is to #StayHome — but people also need practical ways to lower their risk when they don’t. @CommunicateHlth offers #HarmReduction tips to #communicateCOVID: https://bit.ly/2NaXy8Q

This week, dear readers, we want to draw your attention to a timely resource from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF): Health Equity Principles for State and Local Leaders in Responding to, Reopening and Recovering from COVID-19.

As we continue to reflect on COVID-19 and racism, it’s not enough to simply acknowledge that these crises are interconnected. As health communicators, we need to promote pandemic response strategies that draw attention to the disproportionate burdens on Black and Brown communities and prioritize their health and well-being.

So what does an equitable pandemic response look like? Here are RWJF’s 5 health equity principles:

• Collect, analyze, and report data disaggregated by age, race, ethnicity, gender, disability, neighborhood, and other sociodemographic characteristics.
• Include in decision-making the people most affected by health and economic challenges, and benchmark progress based on their outcomes.
• Establish and empower teams dedicated to promoting racial equity in response and recovery efforts.
• Proactively identify and address existing policy gaps while advocating for further federal support.
• Invest in strengthening public health, health care, and social infrastructure to foster resilience.

Be sure to read more about these principles on RWJF’s site!

The bottom line: As we respond to this pandemic, we need to unite around a shared vision to address the deep-rooted systemic problems of racism and health inequity in our country. Resources like RWJF’s health equity principles are a good place to start.

Tweet about it: .@RWJF’s principles can help us unite around a shared vision of an equitable response to #COVID19, says @CommunicateHlth: https://bit.ly/3dUZWMO #communicateCOVID

The primary authors of this post are white. We know that we can’t fully understand the Black experience — and that we may get some things wrong. If we mess up, we want to hear that feedback.

This week, as protests against racism and police brutality fill our newsfeeds alongside continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, we’re taking time to reflect on the interconnectedness of these public health crises.

Many major health organizations — like the American Medical Association and American Public Health Association — have released statements in recent days affirming that racism and police brutality are public health crises at least as urgent and life-threatening as coronavirus. And as the drastic racial disparities in COVID-19 death rates show, when a Black person dies of COVID-19, they have also and equally been killed by systemic racism as a determinant of health — a cause of death that speaks to structural problems far beyond violence.

So as health communicators, we recognize that prioritizing the threat of the pandemic over systemic threats to Black lives is a false choice. And we have a responsibility to avoid promoting this false choice in our messages. For example, when we talk about the potential of protests to spread coronavirus, we need to avoid blaming protesters for this potential harm — or implying that the risk of spreading coronavirus outweighs the disproportionate risk of disease, violence, and death Black people face every day in this country.

We also need to clearly condemn police violence and escalation at protests. And when we talk about the risk of coronavirus spreading, we should start by calling out militarized police tactics that increase that risk, like forcing protesters into crowded spaces or using tear gas.

Here at We ❤ Health Literacy Headquarters, we’ll keep doing our own research, educating ourselves, and listening to you, our readers. We’re here for comments and questions about how health communicators can better address police brutality, racism, and white supremacy in the time of COVID-19. And while we don’t expect our Black readers to take on the labor of educating us, we want to use our platform to share resources created by Black people and to amplify Black voices.

Tweet us @CommunicateHlth or email: wehearthealthliteracy@communicatehealth.com

Tweet about it: As protests against racism and police brutality fill our newsfeeds alongside #COVID19 coverage, @CommunicateHlth reflects on the interconnectedness of these #PublicHealth crises: https://bit.ly/2Xxcown

So much health communication these days is focused on a single all-important topic: COVID-19. In an emergency, run-of-the-mill health issues tend to take a backseat — and no wonder! When you’re consumed with worry about a life-threatening infectious disease, it’s hard to focus on, say, reducing your sodium intake.

But these less flashy preventive health steps are every bit as life-saving in the long run — and as the pandemic continues, health communicators need to start talking about them again. We’re still figuring out best practices, but for now, try these tips:

• Focus on immediate health benefits. Lowering long-term risk isn’t always the strongest motivator for behavior change — especially when people are faced with a short-term threat like a pandemic. Say you’re promoting physical activity. Instead of talking about how it lowers cancer risk, focus on how it can help people feel better right away. If people know that being active can quickly boost mood, ease stress, and improve sleep, they just might give it a try.
• Offer COVID-conscious adaptations. Advice to eat healthy and get active can seem insensitive or out of touch when people are locked down in small spaces, or when they’re having trouble accessing healthy foods. So offer tips that make sense for the current circumstances — like ways to get active without leaving the house or information about contact-free pickup at local food banks.
• Make (careful) connections to coronavirus. All the false “cures” for COVID-19 floating around the internet reveal a useful truth: lots of people will try anything to improve their chances of survival. And while we can’t offer a cure, we can take this unique opportunity to promote behaviors that improve the odds — like quitting smoking. The clear and present danger of coronavirus may be the motivation people need to finally make a change. So if there’s good evidence for a COVID-related health benefit, try making that connection.
• Help people prioritize preventive care. Many preventive health recommendations involve doctor visits, and people need guidance to get this care safely while social distancing. Tell people which types of preventive care, like childhood vaccines, need to happen on schedule. And urge people to talk with their doctors before postponing less urgent appointments, like annual physicals. There may be a safe way to get less urgent care on schedule, too — like shifting to telehealth visits.
• Lead with empathy and flexibility. Shame and blame are never good public health strategies, and that’s especially true in a global pandemic. First, acknowledge that even simple steps can feel really hard right now. Then encourage people to make small, manageable changes. Eat a vegetable. Go for a 5-minute walk. Get an extra half hour of sleep. Those are all wins! Help your audiences celebrate the small successes today — and build on them tomorrow.

The bottom line: Communicating about anything other than coronavirus is tough right now — but we can find ways to keep regular old preventive health behaviors in the conversation.

Tweet about it: How do you communicate about health issues not related to #COVID19 during the #coronavirus pandemic? @CommunicateHlth has #HealthLit tips: https://bit.ly/2WQHhvp #communicateCOVID