Talking about Health

Written by an award-winning researcher and professor whose work straddles the fields of communication and healthcare, Talking About Health explores the importance of health communication in the 21st century, and how it affects us all. Organized around six key questions about health and communication:  How ‘Normal’ am I? What are My ‘Risk’ Factors? Why Don’t We Get ‘Care’? Is the Public Good ‘Good’ for Me? Who Profits from My Health? and What’s Politics Got to Do with It? Provides readers with specific tools which which to better navigate the healthcare system Translates what we know about communication and health into useful guidelines for everyday practice Includes discussions of politics and healthcare, genetic testing, and alternative care The author's blog http://whyhealthcommunication.com/whc_blog/ focuses on why communicating about health can make a difference in our health and our quality of life

Preface. 1. Why Communicating about Health Matters. It Answers the Question, "Who Am I?" It Answers the Question, "Who’s Responsible?" It Opens the Gate for "Resources" It Promotes (Mis)Understanding It Guides Effort, Emotion, and Excuse Summing It Up … 2. How "Normal" Am I? Compared to the Numbers Compared to the Stories When It Comes to Poor Health When Choosing Alternative Treatments When We Don’t Want to Know Summing It Up … 3. What Are My "Risk" Factors? Our Response to Reward Cues Our Response to Punishment Cues How We View Novelty When We Procrastinate What God Has to Do with It Summing It Up … 4. Why Don’t We Get "Care"? Our Doctors Didn’t Recommend It Family or Friends Don’t Support It We Use Support Networks We’re Managing Impressions We’re too Optimistic or Fatalistic Summing It Up … 5. Is the "Public Good" Good for Me? When We Have to "Tell" When Our Freedoms Are Limited When Safety Clashes with (E)Quality What Nonprofits Have to Do with It Why Public Health Matters Summing It Up … 6. Who Profits from My Health? Pharma-, Cosme-, and Nutri-ceuticals The News, It Is an Industry The Entertainment Industry Band-Aids, Crutches and More – Oh My! Who Benefits from Our Health Illiteracy? Summing It Up … 7. What’s Politics Got to Do with It? Medical Research and Disparities Political Agenda-setting and Priorities Religious Agendas and Priorities Medical Associations and Lobbyists Patient Advocacy Summing It Up … 8. An Agenda for the Twenty-first Century: Increase Informed Choice and Consent, or "If I Ran the Circus …" Make "Personalized Medicine" Personal Be Timely in the Telling Fill in the Blanks Track Your Health Report (… and Your Credit Report, Too) Stay Out of "The Big Muddy" Summing It Up … A Final Thought References. Index.