Category: We Heart Health Literacy

It’s our favorite time of the year! This October, we’re celebrating 25 years of Health Literacy Month. For more than a quarter of a century, health comm professionals have been working to foster health literacy skills and make health information easier to access, understand, and use. To mark the occasion, we’re bringing you a special “Voices From the Field” interview with Dr. Jennifer Anne Bishop. Jenn leads the Health Promotion and Communication Division within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP).

As it turns out, the 25^th annual Health Literacy Month was the perfect time to catch up with Jenn. In her 25 years working for the federal government, she’s seen health literacy evolve from an emerging field to a top public health priority. “During my career, I’ve witnessed firsthand how health literacy can empower people to make informed health decisions,” Jenn says. “I’m really excited about this anniversary because it’s a reminder of the progress we’ve made in public health to make sure that clear, accessible health information is a priority.”

For example, health literacy gained national attention with the release of ODPHP’s National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy in 2010. Since the Action Plan’s publication, “we’ve seen a great deal of interest in defining organizational health literacy and developing tools to support organizations as they try to integrate that into their daily practice,” Jenn says. In line with that evolution, ODPHP’s Healthy People initiative has expanded its definition of health literacy to include organizational health literacy. “I believe this is a critical advancement because it acknowledges that health literacy is not just the responsibility or status of an individual, but a responsibility for all levels of society,” Jenn explains. She points to the many actionable tools that were created over the past years to help organizations and health professionals adopt health literacy strategies — like the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s 10 Attributes of Health Literate Health Care Organizations and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Health Literacy resources.

Now, ODPHP is making plans to update the Action Plan to reflect the challenges of our ever-changing digital world. For Jenn, looking at literacy more holistically is a top priority. “The future Action Plan needs to have a stronger focus on the intersection between digital and personal and organizational health literacy,” Jenn emphasizes. “With increasing reliance on digital health tools, we need to make sure we’re presenting information in a way that people can fully navigate.” That means looking at the big picture of the online landscape and identifying new strategies for addressing mis- and disinformation. It also includes making digital health information accessible to diverse audiences. “Given the fact that our nation is becoming so much more diverse, we need to incorporate additional strategies to ensure that underserved populations, especially those with limited English proficiency, aren’t left behind,” Jenn says. To make sure the revised Action Plan reflects the needs of all population groups, ODPHP is reaching out to collaborators nationally and internationally. For starters, ODPHP is holding a listening session at the Health Literacy Annual Research Conference (HARC) on October 22. “We want to hear from our audience and get feedback on what worked, what didn’t work, and what’s new that should be added,” Jenn says. (Here’s the best part, dear reader — you can still sign up for the conference and participate in the listening session!)

We’re proud of the tools ODPHP and CH have created to advance health literacy — including MyHealthfinder, a digital tool that people can use to learn about preventive health services and get personalized recommendations, and Health Literacy Online, a guide to creating health communication materials that follow health literacy best practices. (A new edition of Health Literacy Online is also in the works!) Still, Jenn emphasizes that there’s more work to be done. Looking ahead, Jenn says: “I’m excited about engaging with partners, for example through our Health Literacy Workgroup, and seeing their excitement for this work. I’m also thrilled by the groundswell of interest we’re seeing from groups outside of the government about promoting health literacy. For me, it’s all about turning this excitement into action.” We couldn’t agree more!

The bottom line: As we celebrate the 25^th anniversary of Health Literacy Month, there’s a lot for health communicators to be proud of — and new challenges ahead. We’re glad Jenn Bishop and her team at ODPHP are invested in creating resources to support health literacy.

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Copy/paste to share on social (and tag us!): It’s the 25^th anniversary of Health Literacy Month! To celebrate, CommunicateHealth interviewed ODPHP’s Jenn Bishop about her work supporting health literacy. Check it out: https://communicatehealth.com/wehearthealthliteracy/voices-from-the-field-celebrating-health-literacy-month-with-jenn-bishop-odphp #HealthLiteracy #HealthComm #25YearsOfHealthLiteracyMonth

As health communicators, it’s important we reach our audiences where they’re at. And even though we’re aware of the potential pitfalls of social media, it’s become one of the main channels we have for distributing health information. In the social media space, working with influencers has become an important tactic for reaching audiences with information — and one that’s worth exploring for health communicators.

But let’s back up for a second: what is an influencer? In the broadest terms, an influencer is someone who inspires or guides the actions of others. Usually, we think of influencers in terms of marketing — a person who promotes a product, often on social media. Although the concept of social media influencers is relatively new, enlisting well-known personalities to promote brands is an age-old marketing technique — think celebrity endorsements. Traditionally, a brand ambassador may have been an expert in their field, a big-name celebrity, or someone in a position of power.

But in the age of social media, where anyone can broadcast their lives globally, we’re seeing a new kind of influencers who look a lot like you and me — ok, maybe a little more glam. Thousands of “regular people” influencers have amassed followers and created a thriving economy promoting brands and products. But influencers end up promoting more than just goods — they’re promoting their lifestyle choices too, often making recommendations on parenting, diet, exercise, or even important health decisions (like whether to get a COVID-19 vaccine).

You may be wondering: do people really take advice from influencers? According to the Ad Council’s Trusted Messengers Study, the answer is yes. Trusted messengers — or people we trust to receive information from — may look different for every person. Some common examples are family and friends, doctors and scientists, and academic and religious leaders — and for many of us, especially younger generations, influencers.

That’s why influencer engagement is an important tactic to help us promote health behavior change. But, as in all things health comm, it’s important to take a thoughtful approach to make sure we create effective communications (and avoid unintentionally causing harm). 

Consider these tips for identifying and working with an influencer:

• Know your audience. This is as basic rule for any kind of health communication, but it’s especially important as you’re thinking about influencers. To find the right influencer to work with, you have to know your audience and who they trust.
• Find the right influencer. You can ask people in your priority audience for recommendations, or you can do your own online search using relevant key words.
• Vet your influencer. Once you identified your top choice, it’s time to do a little digging. When you look up the influencer’s name, what picture emerges? Are there any red flags? Consider the tone, professionalism, quality, and accuracy of their content. Be especially mindful of content promoting misinformation or disinformation (for a refresher on addressing health misinformation, check out this playbook!). Once you’ve done your research, contact the influencer to talk about the potential opportunity.
• Align on messaging. During that first conversation, clearly state the main message(s) you want the influencer to convey to the audience. Ask questions to make sure you’re aligned on the “mission”: For example, if you’re trying to encourage people to get their yearly flu shot, you’ll want to make sure the influencer feels comfortable promoting this message.
• Ask for input. Although you’ll want to come in with a clear idea of your goals, it’s important to consider the influencer’s ideas too — after all, they know what resonates with their audience.
• Set clear rules and expectations. Just like with any business relationship, it’s a good idea to document your collaboration with an influencer in a contract. That doesn’t need to be complex — just a simple document that outlines the services they’re providing, timeline, and payment (most influencers will expect to get paid for promoting your messages, so make sure that’s in the budget).

The bottom line: Working with influencers to promote health behavior change can be an important tool in your health comm toolkit.

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Copy/paste to share on social (and tag us!): Curious about working with social media influencers to promote health content? CommunicateHealth has tips for doing it thoughtfully: https://communicatehealth.com/wehearthealthliteracy/the-age-of-influencers #HealthCommunication #HealthLiteracy #HealthComm

Lately, we’ve been talking a lot about using empathy in health communication — like when we’re crafting decision aids or writing materials for people with specific health conditions. Today, we’d like to bring your attention to a topic that has a lot to do with empathy: trauma-informed health communication.

Consider this not-so-fun fact, dear reader: According to the National Council for Behavioral Health, 7 out of 10 adults in the U.S. say they’ve experienced at least 1 traumatic event in their life. The effects of trauma can be long-lasting and have mental, physical, social, emotional, and spiritual impacts. That’s why health care providers are often trained in trauma-informed care — the philosophy that, for care to be effective, a provider needs to understand a patient’s life experiences. And many learn that, when it comes to trauma, it’s best to take a universal precautions approach. Basically, expect that trauma is present in the lives of every person — and take care not to cause more.

Here’s the thing. While a doctor can ask a patient questions, listen to their personal stories, and tailor their approach accordingly, public health communicators usually don’t have that opportunity. But what we can do is apply a universal precautions approach of our own — and be intentional about taking a trauma-informed tack in our writing.

Consider these tips:

Be alert to topics that might be extra sensitive to readers. Some more obvious examples include content related to violence or abuse, mental health, and OB/GYN and urology topics. But even content related to, for example, fitness and nutrition can include triggers — like for people who had traumatizing experiences with disordered eating.

Avoid language that may retraumatize people. Let’s say you’re describing the steps of a pelvic exam. Terms like “spread,” “relax,” or “insert” may be accurate descriptions of parts of the process, but they may also cause a trauma response for someone who’s a survivor of sexual abuse or assault. Try alternatives like:

• Instead of: “Your doctor will insert the swab.”
• Write: “Your doctor will gently place the swab.”

And let’s all agree to stop telling people to relax during pelvic exams, in general, forever.

Look for opportunities to give agency and empower. Instead of describing what will be “required of” or “done to” someone in a health setting, shift the language to emphasize what a person can control and decide. For example:

• Instead of: “For the exam, you will undress from the waist down and lie on your back on the exam table.”
• Write: “You may be asked to remove some of your clothing. If you’re not comfortable taking off clothing, it’s okay to say so. There might be options that can help you feel more at ease.”

Remember that trauma and social determinants of health are connected. Groups who’ve been denied equal access to the resources that support health and well-being are more likely to have a history of trauma as well. And some experts believe that trauma itself is a social determinant of health — for example, experiencing trauma as a child often affects people’s health, well-being, and life opportunities well into adulthood. So keep that front of mind when your primary audience is more likely to be impacted by disparities in social determinants of health.

The bottom line: When we take a trauma-informed approach in our work, we’re doing our part to make sure our health communication materials help instead of harm.

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Copy/paste to share on social (and tag us!): Using a trauma-informed approach to health communication helps make sure our messages don’t harm the people who rely on us for clear, accurate health information. Check out CommunicateHealth’s post for more info: https://communicatehealth.com/wehearthealthliteracy/writing-trauma-informed-health-comm-materials/ #HealthCommunication #HealthLiteracy #HealthComm

For our second “Voices From the Field” post, we had the immense pleasure of talking with Traci Augustosky. Traci leads a team of writers and editors at the Office of Communication that supports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH)/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). NCEH/ATSDR focuses on protecting people from environmental health hazards.  

For more than 20 years, Traci’s been pursuing her mission of training public health professionals in clear communication (sounds familiar? At We ❤️ Health Literacy Headquarters, we think so too!). “All public health professionals should have clear writing skills — but it’s much harder than it sounds,” Traci says. “There are many tools out there to help professionals acquire writing skills, but writing well is only part of the equation. It takes a different set of skills to translate complex scientific language and messages into plain language while maintaining accuracy.”

Talking with Traci, we’re reminded that we’ve come a long way in advocating for health literacy best practices and plain language in a fairly short time. She remembers that when CDC published the CDC Clear Communication Index (CCI) around 2014 — in response to the 2010 Plain Writing Act — public health professionals across the country struggled to define what plain language meant for their work. “Thankfully, today’s health professionals are more aware and accepting of the fact that clear communication isn’t just someone else’s job,” Traci says. “It’s everyone’s responsibility.”

One way Traci and her team helped shift people’s perceptions was to make a small, but powerful change in how they communicated about their work. “Instead of talking about ‘plain language,’ we started calling it ‘clear communication.’ After all, who doesn’t want to communicate clearly?” We simply love this reminder that while it may not always seem like much, choosing the right words (at the right time) can have a real impact.

Speaking of impact — when asked what professional achievement she’s especially proud of, Traci names one of our favorite projects: “Our small but mighty team of writers and editors, along with CommunicateHealth, created the NCEH/ATSDR Clear Writing Hub.” The Hub is publicly accessible and has a variety of tools to help health professionals write clearly — like a communication playbook, an environmental health thesaurus, training modules, and testing tools.

Finally, we wanted to know what developments Traci’s hoping to see in the field of health comm over the next few years — and it’s all about further closing the gap between the public and health communicators. “I’d like to see a broader conversation about testing, including small-scale and informal testing. That’s one of the missing pieces. There’s a belief that you need lots of money, time, and research experts — but we have tools like the CCI, the Clear Writing Assessment, paraphrase tests, and in-depth interviews that you can do and get really valuable feedback, even if it’s just from 6 or 7 people.”

The bottom line: We’ve come a long way in raising awareness and acceptance of the need for clear writing skills among public health professionals — but our work is far from done. Good thing there’s advocates like Traci Augustosky and her team to help carry the torch for clear communication!

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Copy/paste to share on social (and tag us!): The latest post in CommunicateHealth’s series “Voices From the Field” features Traci Augustosky at CDC/ATSDR’s Office of Communication. Check it out: https://communicatehealth.com/wehearthealthliteracy/voices-from-the-field-traci-augustosky-cdc-atsdr/ #HealthLiteracy #HealthComm

It’s no secret that we’re feeling the effects of climate change across the nation right now, with new stories about extreme heat, flooding, and wildfires in the news each week. It’s also no secret that the health effects of climate change aren’t being felt equally — with social determinants of health and other factors driving significant health disparities. While these can feel like daunting topics to tackle, let’s start by doing what we do best as health communicators — staying informed about how climate change is impacting our communities’ health, communicating clearly with our audiences about how climate change can affect them, and sharing actionable information and resources. To that effect, we’ve rounded up a few recent headlines.

• We Mapped Heat in 3 U.S. Cities. Some Sidewalks Were Over 130 Degrees. (New York Times)
  While extreme heat is a problem many people in the U.S. have faced this year, we like that this piece showcases how certain groups — like Native Americans and people who don’t have housing — are disproportionately affected by extreme heat. It also sheds light on some of the obstacles cities face to finding more effective responses to heat. In many places, complex solutions — like changes to building codes and construction practices — are needed to mitigate the effects of extreme heat.
• Wildfire Smoke Contributes to Thousands of Deaths Each Year in the U.S. (NPR)
  As public health data nerds, we loved reading about the data-driven research highlighted in this piece. It covers 2 analyses from the National Bureau of Economic Research and Yale University that link tens of thousands of deaths in the U.S. each year to contact with wildfire smoke — which worsens certain health problems and causes more and more damage over time the more people are exposed. These analyses show that wildfires pose broad public health risks that go far beyond the immediate threats to people and property where fires burn.
• Vector-borne Illnesses Are Taking a Bite Out of Our Health and Safety (AgInnovation)
  Diseases spread by vectors — like ticks, birds, mosquitos, and other living organisms — are increasing across the Northeastern U.S., due to warmer temperatures caused by climate change. This piece highlights the health threats of vector-borne illnesses and how universities in the Northeast are working to address them. The article also draws attention to how drastically our environment is changing, even within a generation or 2. Which seems even more relevant, given another piece of recent news about a mosquito-related outbreak of the rare, but very dangerous eastern equine encephalitis virus in Massachusetts.
• The Visible and Unseen Dangers Lurking in Floodwater (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)
  Did you know that flooding is the most common natural disaster in the U.S., dear reader? And the health risks go far beyond drowning. Dangerous objects (like glass or lumber), hazardous chemicals, and pathogens can all get swept up in floodwater and cause injuries or disease outbreaks. We like that this piece closes with some practical tips for what to do if you come into contact with floodwater — modeling effective communication about emergencies.

The bottom line: As health communicators, we can serve our audiences by staying informed, bringing attention to the health risks of climate change, and calling for systemic change whenever we can.

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Copy/paste to share on social (and tag us!): In this edition of #HealthComm Headlines, CommunicateHealth explores top stories about #ClimateChange and its related health risks. Check it out: https://communicatehealth.com/wehearthealthliteracy/health-comm-headlines-climate-change/ #HealthComm #HealthLiteracy #ClimateChange

At CommunicateHealth, we’re passionate about creating health communications that make everyone feel seen, included, and respected. And that can be especially important when writing for or about disabled people. Which is why we’re so excited to announce the launch of another original publication, our Inclusive Language Playbook: Writing About Disability!

As you may know, we’ve covered a number of topics related to disability in the past. For example, we’ve shared thoughts on the (lack of) representation of disabled people in clinical trials. In this post on creating inclusive sexual health content, we advocated for bringing disability into the conversation (which the TV show Sex Education does beautifully!). And we’ve recommended a couple of disability-related books that can really help shift perspective — We’re Not Broken and True Biz.

Some of you may have noticed that we’ve used an identity-first approach in this post (“disabled people,” not “people with disabilities”), and the same is true for the playbook. This choice reflects our constantly evolving language landscape as many people have reclaimed the term “disabled” for themselves. We’ve made this shift very intentionally, following the lead of disability community leaders — and we want to call out that it’s a departure from language we’ve used in older posts.

We also want to acknowledge that it’s not everyone’s preference. After all, everyone who has a disability has their own relationship with disability. Throughout the playbook, we’ve highlighted multiple perspectives on sensitive topics. Our goal is not to give one-size-fits-all guidance, but to explore the nuances of rapidly evolving language, sharing food for thought for our fellow health communicators along the way.

Finally, the new playbook joins 2 other recent-ish CommunicateHealth publications: our Framework for Equity-Centered Health Communication and our Inclusive Language Playbook: Writing for LGBTQ+ Communities. If you have feedback on any of these — or suggestions for the topic of our next inclusive language playbook! — you can respond to this email. We’d ❤️ to hear from you!

The bottom line: Our new inclusive language playbook on writing about disability is out now — check it out and share!

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Copy/paste to share on social (and tag us!): 🚨 NEW #HealthComm resource alert! 🚨 The CommunicateHealth team has just released a new #InclusiveLanguage playbook on writing about #disability. Learn more: https://communicatehealth.com/wehearthealthliteracy/presenting-our-new-inclusive-language-playbook-on-writing-about-disability #HealthCommunication #HealthLiteracy #DEI

If you’re a loyal We ❤️ Health Literacy reader, you’ve no doubt heard us talk about communicating with empathy. This week, we wanted to practice building empathy — because sometimes, it can help to step away from the page and re-center our audience to make sure we’re meeting folks where they are. Let’s use people with diabetes as an example.

First, the facts: diabetes is a health condition that affects how your body processes sugar (glucose). There are 2 main types of diabetes: type 1, an autoimmune condition where the body doesn’t produce insulin, and type 2, where the body doesn’t use insulin properly. Managing diabetes (of either type) involves monitoring blood sugar levels, eating a balanced diet, and sometimes taking medicine.

Sounds simple, right? Not quite. Without the right info and support, managing diabetes can feel like navigating a maze. People who’ve recently been diagnosed with diabetes may need to:

• Learn complex terms, like A1C, hypoglycemia, and glucose. When you’re still learning the lingo, reading health education materials can feel especially taxing.
• Learn new skills, like monitoring blood sugar and injecting insulin or other medicines. These tasks can feel overwhelming for many people with diabetes — plus, as we all know, medical devices don’t always come with the clearest instructions.
• Adjust to lifestyle changes, like counting carbs during meals. Do you know how many carbs are in a hot dog bun? Imagine needing to figure that out and do math every time you eat. This focus on nutrition can be stressful — or even destabilizing — for anyone who’s had complex experiences with food and weight.
• Get comfortable with uncertainty. Constantly making real-time decisions about food intake and adjusting medicines like insulin can be a major — and very stressful — task.

Not to mention, any new diagnosis can be surprising and upsetting. Especially diabetes, which is often wrapped up in harmful stigma, shame, and blame. Now seems like a good time for our favorite reminder: health literacy is a state, not a trait! That means anyone can have limited health literacy skills sometimes — like when you’re faced with a new or stressful diagnosis.

While we may not be able to completely untangle these complexities, approaching diabetes communication with empathy can make the topic feel a lot more manageable. Here are some ways to get started:

• Acknowledge that managing diabetes is complicated — and living with multiple health conditions can make it even more so. A little validation can go a long way!
• Watch out for sneaky shame-based messages, especially when you’re writing about nutrition and physical activity.
• Acknowledge what experts know and don’t know. When it comes to new treatment options like GLP-1 medications, it’s especially important to spell out the benefits, the known risks, and the unknowns.
• Reduce cognitive load by using simple terms when you can, defining medical terms your audience needs to know (like A1C, for example), and putting numbers in context.
• Provide step-by-step instructions for processes like blood sugar testing and injections.
• Use the teach-back method when you’re talking to patients one-on-one.

The bottom line: Managing diabetes can feel overwhelming — especially for people who are processing a new diagnosis. As health communicators, we can lighten our audiences’ load by communicating about diabetes with empathy.

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Copy/paste to share on social (and tag us!): Managing #diabetes can feel overwhelming — especially for people who are processing a new diagnosis. Add a little #empathy to your diabetes content with these tips from CommunicateHealth: https://communicatehealth.com/wehearthealthliteracy/communicating-about-diabetes-with-empathy #HealthComm

In our interview series “Voices from the Field,” we feature people and organizations that are making a difference in the health comm field. For this post, we had an enlightening conversation with Julia Votto, Senior Innovation Manager at the Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania. Eidos works to connect and engage leaders from community, academic, civic, and business spheres to create innovative solutions for LGBTQ+ communities.  

Launched in 2022 as part of UPenn’s School of Nursing, Eidos has set an ambitious goal for itself: Transforming LGBTQ+ health. “Even though LGBTQ+ people face significant health risks due to stigma and discrimination, less than 1 percent of funding allocated by the National Institutes of Health goes to projects focused on the health needs of LGBTQ+ people,” Julia says. Eidos is working to level that imbalance — by helping bring to life ideas that can improve the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ people.

What does that look like in practice? “We’re trying to build connections between our students, community members, and organizations that share a similar mission,” Julia says. That means someone might have an idea that could benefit LGBTQ+ people — and Eidos can help connect them with organizations that have the means to make that idea a reality. Earlier this year, we were lucky enough to team up with Eidos on an LGBTQ+ health equity-focused project. With Eidos’ support, CommunicateHealth and Penn LGBTQ Reproductive Health Program clinicians collaborated on a suite of inclusive patient education materials — and an inclusive communication checklist to support clinicians in creating a welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ patients.

Julia notes that a big part of connecting people is to create space for thinking about what LGBTQ+ health looks like. “People in LGBTQ+ communities have always had to create those spaces for themselves because there’s never been a lot of support,” she says. “In a way, that’s what has made us successful — we’re a group of like-minded people working toward a common goal.”

Part of that goal is to promote inclusive language when communicating with LGBTQ+ audiences (and if you know one thing about us, dear reader, it’s that we’re here for that!). Julia shares that when it comes to inclusivity, it can be helpful to build shared values around inclusive communication instead of relying on a fixed set of rules. “Sometimes, organizations we work with ask us: ‘Which term should I use to make this more inclusive?’ But there isn’t always a one-size-fits-all answer. People tend to look for a template, but language is always changing and evolving. That’s why we encourage organizations to establish a set of values to guide their communications.”

And because (inclusive) language is always changing, Julia highlights that it’s important to build up our tolerance for mistakes — and to not let the fear of getting it wrong stop us from trying a new approach. “As we’re all learning how to be more inclusive in our communications, mistakes are going to happen. That’s okay. All we can do is acknowledge it, correct the mistake, and move on.” An iterative approach to inclusive health communication — what’s not to ❤️ about that?

The bottom line: There’s a big gap between the burden of health risks (caused by systemic factors) carried by LGBTQ+ people and the resources allocated to find solutions. Organizations like Eidos are here to change that status quo — and create a healthier, more equitable society for all.

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Copy/paste to share on social (and tag us and our friends at Eidos!): Interested in hearing from #HealthComm professionals about their work? Check out the first post in CommunicateHealth’s new series “Voices from the Field”: https://communicatehealth.com/wehearthealthliteracy/voices-from-the-field-julia-votto-eidos-lgbtq-health-initiative/ #HealthLiteracy

If there’s one thing that gets our attention here at We ❤️ Health Literacy Headquarters, it’s a warning from the U.S. Surgeon General. Past Surgeon General’s reports have raised the alarm about a wide range of health threats facing the nation, from cigarettes in the 1960s to firearm violence in 2024. And now, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is calling for caution around a public health threat that’s a bit more slippery to safeguard against: social media.

Back in 2023, a Surgeon General’s advisory on social media and youth mental health advocated for a safety-first approach. The report acknowledged that the evidence for the mental health effects of social media use in children and adolescents is mostly correlational — but it identified 2 main types of potential harm. The first is exposure to harmful content, which can include everything from promotion of self-harm and disordered eating to hate-based content and cyberbullying. The second is what the advisory calls “excessive and problematic use” — something we more commonly call social media addiction.

Dr. Murthy’s more recent call for a warning label on social media platforms suggests that there’s enough evidence to be concerned that the harms may outweigh the benefits — but we can’t yet say for certain if these platforms cause mental health problems the way cigarettes cause cancer.

So how can health communicators help our audiences understand and respond to this type of warning? We don’t have all the answers to this evolving problem, but we do have some thoughts. (And after you read them, we’d love to hear yours!)

Place responsibility for increasing social media safety where it belongs — on government regulators and social media companies. It’s all well and good to warn parents and kids about safety hazards. But social media is not a hot stove, and a simple “hands off” model of individual responsibility won’t work here. With a product as ubiquitous and addictive as social media, we need policymakers to step up and force social media companies to change their practices. So when you’re writing about social media and mental health, direct your main call to action toward the people and organizations who can reshape the industry from the top down.

Share ways for families to protect children in the meantime. While we’re pushing for change from the top, we also know that kids and teens are spending a lot of time on social media right now. When you’re communicating about youth mental health, consider mentioning how social media use might factor in. Provide practical tips for parents to keep younger kids and teens safe when they’re on these platforms. When you’re writing directly to kids and teens, help them recognize the negative feelings they may experience from social media, and encourage them to replace some of their social media time with healthier alternatives like physical activity and in-person time with family and friends.

Meet your audiences where they are… on social media. The elephant in this particular room is, of course, that the very same platforms we’re warning against are often a key part of our health comm efforts — including campaigns aimed at youth and families. But rather than fretting that your health-promoting TikToks may be part of the problem, try using the opportunity to communicate about social media safety. If the Surgeon General’s call does lead to a warning label on these platforms, health communicators need to continue that conversation and help fill the feeds that come after the warning with resources and support.

The bottom line: The Surgeon General’s warning on social media and youth mental health is a call to action that health communicators can help answer — with practical tips for kids and families, and with consistent calls for stronger safety regulations on social media platforms.

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Copy/paste to share on social (and tag us!): How can health communicators respond to the Surgeon General’s warning on social media and youth mental health? CommunicateHealth has some ideas: https://communicatehealth.com/wehearthealthliteracy/making-sense-of-the-surgeon-generals-warning-on-social-media/ #HealthCommunication #HealthLiteracy #HealthComm

Here at We ❤️ Health Literacy Headquarters, we’re always looking for new ways to center equity in health communication. And today, we want to focus on one type of equity that’s been getting some much-needed attention: pain equity.

You may have seen news recently about how our health care system often fails to treat pain in women and people of color. (Whether it’s trending in your TikTok feed via #IUD or brought to you by the makers of a well-known OTC pain reliever.) So we looked at some examples of how pain inequity affects these groups.

First up: the long history of racial pain bias. False beliefs that Black people felt less pain were once used to legitimize doing medical experiments on enslaved people without anesthesia. But even today, doctors tend to both underestimate and undertreat Black patients’ pain across the lifespan, whether treating a child with appendicitis or an older adult with terminal cancer.

For people with sickle cell disease, most of whom are Black, stigma around drug-seeking limits access to the opioids they often need to control a pain crisis. And for Black people who give birth, racism and bias in the health care system means not only a higher risk of dying in childbirth, but a lower chance of getting adequate care for postpartum pain.

That brings us to the gender pain gap. When women and other people assigned female at birth seek pain relief for periods or childbirth, they often come up against societal beliefs that this pain is inevitable. And this inequity isn’t just a pain in the uterus. Women have higher rates of chronic pain in general, but often report that doctors dismiss the severity of their pain or fail to treat it appropriately. That is, if doctors believe they’re in pain at all — see the recent case where a nurse at a fertility clinic replaced fentanyl drips with saline, and doctors ignored the dozens of women who said they felt every agonizing moment of their egg retrieval procedures.

The harms of all this untreated and disbelieved pain go far beyond the sensation itself (though that’s harmful enough!). Chronic pain causes problems with sleep, mental health, and many other parts of daily life. And when doctors don’t take acute pain seriously, it can delay diagnosis for life-threatening conditions. For example, when women and people of color go to the emergency department with chest pain, they often wait longer to get checked for a heart attack.

So what’s a health communicator to do? We may not be able to waive a magic wand and deliver equitable pain care for all. But we can help fill the gaps in pain-related health content. Try these tips:

• Validate that the pain is real. When you’re writing about a painful health condition, it can be tempting to downplay the pain part. But your audience may already feel that no one believes them. So don’t sugarcoat the situation — say clearly that the condition causes pain and explain how severe it may be.
• Offer tips for self-advocacy. Of course, the burden of advocating for equitable pain care shouldn’t fall on the people in pain. But it’s still helpful to share practical advice for how to prepare for a health care visit related to pain or for how to describe your pain to your doctor.
• Beware of implicit bias. You may be thinking, “hey, I just read a whole blog post about equity, my mind is now a bias-free paradise, pal!” But the tricky thing about this kind of bias is that it’s unconscious. So we all need to continuously examine the choices we make in creating health content — and weed out the sneaky biased bits.
• Consider how pain affects health literacy (which is, as we like to say, a state, not a trait). Remember that being in pain can negatively affect your audience’s ability to find, understand, and use health information. All the more reason to test content early and often with people who are living with pain, so they can tell you if you’re getting it right.

The bottom line: Pain equity is an important part of the health equity conversation. As health communicators, we can do our part to help everyone get the pain management care they need.

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