Health communication
-
Health communication · Jan 2015
A mapping of people's positions regarding the breaking of bad news to patients.
The objective of this study was to map people's positions regarding the breaking of bad news to patients. One hundred forty adults who had in the past received bad medical news or whose elderly relatives had in the past received bad news, 25 nurses, and 28 nurse's aides indicated the acceptability of physicians' conduct in 72 vignettes of giving bad news to elderly patients. Vignettes were all combinations of five factors: (a) the severity of the disease (severe but not lethal, extremely severe and possibly lethal, or incurable), (b) the patient's wishes (insists on knowing the full truth vs. does not insist), (c) the level of social support during hospitalization, (d) the patient's psychological robustness, and (e) the physician's decision about communicating bad news (tell the patient that the illness is not severe and minimize the severity of the illness when talking to the patient's relatives, tell the full truth to her relatives, or tell the full truth to both the elderly patient and her relatives). ⋯ Twenty-eight percent of participants preferred the full truth to be told; 36% preferred the truth to be told but understood that the physician would inform the family first; 13% did not think that telling the full truth is best for patients; and 23% understood that the full truth would be told in some cases and not in others, depending on the physician's perception of the situation. The present mapping could be used to detect the position held by each patient and act accordingly. This would be made easier if breaking bad news was conceived as a communication process involving a range of health care professionals, rather than as a single occurrence in time.
-
Health communication · Jan 2015
Including "evidentiary balance" in news media coverage of vaccine risk.
Journalists communicating risk-related uncertainty must accurately convey scientific evidence supporting particular conclusions. Scholars have explored how "balanced" coverage of opposing risk claims shapes uncertainty judgments. ⋯ Deference toward science, moreover, moderates these relationships under certain conditions. We discuss implications for journalism practice and risk communication.
-
During the past century, discoveries of microorganisms as causes of infections and antibiotics as effective therapeutic agents have contributed to significant gains in public health in many parts of the world. Health agencies worldwide are galvanizing attention toward antibiotic resistance, which is a major threat to public health (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013; World Health Organization, 2014). ⋯ This primer provides an overview of antibiotic resistance and its growing burden on public health, the biological and behavioral mechanisms that increase antibiotic resistance, and examples of where health communication scholars can contribute to efforts to make our current antibiotic drugs last as long as possible. In addition, we identify compelling challenges for current communication theories and practices.
-
Health literacy is the degree to which individuals can obtain, process, understand, and communicate about health-related information needed to make informed health decisions and is an important factor in patient health outcomes and resulting health care costs. Because of its importance across many areas of health, specific attention has been given to studying and measuring health literacy in recent years; however, the field lacks consensus on how health literacy should be defined and measured. ⋯ A directed literature search reveals a substantial body of work on health literacy; however, findings from studies often emphasize health literacy within specific health domains, populations, contexts, and languages, which makes the comparison of findings across studies difficult. While there is recognition that the measurement of health literacy should be improved, it is important to take into consideration what can be gained from a general health literacy focus and how this could be applied across domains.