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[HealthLiteracy 2534] Re: Treatment refusal and verbal abilities

Lisa Bernstein

lisab at whattoexpect.org
Tue Dec 2 08:47:18 EST 2008


We are doing a version for the CDC to distribute that will not bear the GSK
logo. For the record GSK underwrote the cost of the campaign but did not
have any approval rights on the manuscript. In fact it was the FDA that made
it the most difficult to write the giude clearly without legal
equivocation. In my experience however, most parents are happy to receive
it, and are not as concerned by who underwrote it.
Thanks,
Lisa


On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 8:01 PM, Pilisuk, Tammy (CDPH-CID-DCDC-IMM) <
Tammy.Pilisuk at cdph.ca.gov> wrote:


> Lisa,

>

>

>

> Thanks for responding! And I actually have a copy of the "What to Expect"

> guide on my desk. It's nicely done. But one minor unfortunate aspect is that

> it bears the GSK logo on the back. Suspicious parents may dismiss

> information they feel is tied to the pharmaceutical industry.

>

>

>




> My constant quandary is how to balance science and emotional impact. The

> audience tends to be highly educated, but the issues are complex and not

> everyone worries about the same thing. Some worry about thimerosal, some

> about government intrusion, some about the medical establishment, some that

> vaccine-preventable diseases aren't really that dangerous. We're trying to

> approach the issue at different levels. But I'd welcome any feedback from

> this group about how to use the psychology to get at what influences

> parents' decision-making.

>

>

>

> We've recently completed some fact sheets in cooperation with the

> California Immunization Coalition. If you or others would like to check them

> out, they're online on the coalitions' homepage at: www.immunizeca.org

>

>

>

> Tammy

>

>

> ------------------------------

>

> *From:* healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:

> healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] *On Behalf Of *Lisa Bernstein

> *Sent:* Monday, December 01, 2008 12:20 PM

> *To:* The Health and Literacy Discussion List

> *Subject:* [HealthLiteracy 2529] Re: Treatment refusal and verbal

> abilities

>

>

>

> Hi Tammy,

>

> What a nice post-thanksgiving treat. First Chris and Rima reinforce my

> favorite health literacy topic -- you can make the most gorgeous written

> materials in the world, but if providers don't use them, and our audience

> doesn't read them - you haven't created real change. And now, my second

> favorite topic: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE..

>

>

>

> The immunization scare is being perpetuated amongst sophisticated, highly

> literate parents. A question: is it fair to say that people with extremely

> high functional literacy may at times have low heath literacy?

>

>

>

> For those unaware of the issue, rates of vaccinations are falling for the

> first time in decades because parents are nervous that immunizations may be

> the cause of a host of diseases - mostly autism. These claims were based on

> a faulty, unscientific article - and though countless research has proven

> them false the claims are being perpetuated by some very commited parents,

> with very frightening consequences. Parents who do not immunize their

> children are misreading statistics, and reading unscientific information.

> Is this a health literacy issue or a communication issue?

>

>

> By the way,

>

> The What To Expect Foundation has created an immunization campaign - that

> includes a 16 page guide called "The What To Expect Guide To Immunizations"

> and a video webcast that will launch in January. As many of you on this

> list know, the Foundation's Baby Basics program is focussed on helping

> underserved families. But you may not know about the other work we do for

> "What To Expect" families.

>

>

>

> The What To Expect Guide to Immunization is written to a much higher

> reading level (the same level as the What To Expect When You''re Expecting

> and What To Expect The First Year Guides) Why? Because in our research we

> found (as have others) that it is actually moms and dads with higher

> literacy levels that are the most concerned about immunizing their children

> - these are parents that are more likely to purchase pregnancy and early

> education information and more likely to go on-line to research

> information. They wanted and needed comprehensive answers to their

> questions - and some of their questions are very detailed in nature. So our

> audience was not the Baby Basics audience.

>

>

>

> Wait...before you say all good writing should be in plain language - this

> is not complicated language, it is complicated science written and parsed

> very clearly --but it is not something that a parent in a literacy class

> would or could read.

>

>

>

> So we've employed tactics out of Social marketing 101

>

> 1. A brand name that parents trust "What To Expect"

>

> 2. We've provided complete information, well organized and spelled out

> without falling in to the twin pitfalls of condescencion or medicalese with

> confusing statistics,

>

> 3. We've created a tool that providers can use and refer to so that correct

> information is standardized (pediatricians have been telling us that

> they are "freaked out" about how to talk to a parent about immunizing their

> children.) and we've created a short training for doctors on how to address

> the issue.

>

>

>

>

>

> Unfortunately... the media has done a pretty good job of stirring up fear

> about vaccinations - so underserved families are starting to hear that

> there's "something to worry about" with immunizations. We will address

> those issues - in our Family's First Year Basics program to launch this

> spring.

>

>

>

> For anyone who is interested in the What To Expect Guide To Immunizations,

> a downloadable PDF is on our website www.whattoexpect.org.

>

>

> Lisa

> --

> BABY BASICS IN THE NEWS:

>

> Watch the story on WB 11:

>

> http://weblogs.cw11.com/news/local/morningnews/blogs/2008/07/baby_basics_for_queens_familie.html#more

>

> Read the article in USA TODAY:

>

> http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-07-01-what-to-expect-baby-basics_N.htm

>

>

> Lisa Bernstein

> Executive Director

> The What To Expect Foundation

> 211 W. 80th Street, Lower Level

> New York, NY 10024

> 212-712-9764

> www.whattoexpect.org

>

> Providing prenatal health and literacy support so that women in need know

> what to expect when expecting.

>

> On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 12:54 PM, Pilisuk, Tammy (CDPH-CID-DCDC-IMM) <

> Tammy.Pilisuk at cdph.ca.gov> wrote:

>

> Hi all,

>

>

>

> I joined this ListServ recently. I'm impressed by the wisdom and exchange

> of valuable information by so many knowledgeable professionals. The

> resources noted by Mark Hochhauser are of particular interest to me working

> in immunization health education. We've seen a surge of parents who question

> or refuse immunizations for their kids.

>

>

>

> We have been working at both the emotional level (sharing of personal

> stories) and factual information (fact sheets, expert speakers). The

> audience is typically highly educated and claim to want to do lots of

> research, but defining scientific credibility of "credible" sources can also

> be construed as some sort of a government/big Pharma/western medical model

> conspiracy.

>

>

>

> I'd be curious to learn of any application of the resources Mark noted.

>

>

>

> Tammy Pilisuk, MPH

>

> CDPH Immunization Branch

>

> Richmond CA

>

>

> ------------------------------

>

> *From:* healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:

> healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] *On Behalf Of *Mary Jane Jerde

> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 26, 2008 10:17 AM

> *To:* The Health and Literacy Discussion List

> *Subject:* [HealthLiteracy 2517] Re: Treatment refusal and verbal

> abilities

>

>

>

> Hi,

>

> I hope that this is not too late.

>

> The points you make are excellent.

>

> It also pays to remember that the medical professionals are also going

> through similar processes in their decision making and conversations with a

> patient.

>

> Mary Jane Jerde

> NEDP Assessor

> Howard Community College

>

>

> ------------------------------

>

> *From:* "MarkH38514 at aol.com" <MarkH38514 at aol.com>

> *To:* healthliteracy at nifl.gov

> *Sent:* Tuesday, November 18, 2008 3:12:06 PM

> *Subject:* [HealthLiteracy 2474] Re: Treatment refusal and verbal

> abilities

>

> Mary:

>

>

>

> Much of the research on informed consent philosophically assumes that the

> decision to be treated or not be treated is a logical one. But there is much

> emerging research on the brain's role in decision making and the importance

> of emotion, logic, and even intuition.

>

>

>

> For example, psychologist George Lowenstein and his colleagues published a

> paper on "Risk as Feelings." (Lowenstein, G.F., et al. Risk as feelings. *Psychological

> Bulletin*, 2001, 127: 267-286). Because decisions aren't just logical

> thoughts, but emotional reactions, it's not surprising that patients may

> find it difficult to articulate why they don't want treatment.

>

>

>

> Malcolm Gladwell's 2005 book "blink. The Power of Thinking without

> Thinking" described how people use "thin slicing" to extract relevant

> information from all the information around them. David Myers, in his book

> "Intuition" (2002) describes "knowing without awareness"--how people can

> know things automatically (unconsciously) or cognitively (consciously). He

> summarized Seymour Epstein's description of *experiential knowing*(intuitive, automatic and nonverbal) or

> *rational knowing* (rational, analytic, verbal). Consent decisions based

> on experiential knowing may not be easy for patients to explain verbally.

>

>

>

> I've done a few articles that touch on the issue, but may not be specific

> enough for your needs. One is available online:

>

>

>

> Hochhauser, M. The anatomy of informed consent. *Applied Clinical Trials*,

> March 2005, 82.

>

>

> http://appliedclinicaltrialsonline.findpharma.com/appliedclinicaltrials/Sites+Articles/The-Anatomy-of-Informed-Consent/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/149967

>

>

>

> I can send you pdf versions of:

>

>

>

> Hochhauser, M. Emotion and logic in the informed consent process. *Research

> Practitioner*, 2005, 5(4), 138-141.

>

>

>

> Hochhauser, M. Informed consent or intuitive consent? *SoCRA Source, *February

> 2006, (Publication of the Society of Clinical Research Associates, #47,

> 32-33.

>

>

>

> Mark

>

>

>

> Mark Hochhauser, Ph.D.

>

> Readability Consultant

>

> 3344 Scott Avenue North

>

> Golden Valley, MN 55422

>

> Phone: 763-521-4672

>

> Fax: 763-521-5069

>

> Cell: 612-281-1517

>

> email: MarkH38514 at aol.com

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> ------------------------------

>

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> Email delivered to lisab at whattoexpect.org

>

>

>

>



--
BABY BASICS IN THE NEWS:

Watch the story on WB 11:
http://weblogs.cw11.com/news/local/morningnews/blogs/2008/07/baby_basics_for_queens_familie.html#more

Read the article in USA TODAY:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-07-01-what-to-expect-baby-basics_N.htm


Lisa Bernstein
Executive Director
The What To Expect Foundation
211 W. 80th Street, Lower Level
New York, NY 10024
212-712-9764
www.whattoexpect.org

Providing prenatal health and literacy support so that women in need know
what to expect when expecting.
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