San Antonio, Texas — Every day, public health experts and community health workers are having conversations about health with people with different perspectives.
Some community members may mistrust the health care and public health sectors, others are skeptical about preventive and curative options, or may feel invisible in their health care journey.
That said, health professionals understand that an essential part of improving health is having respectful conversations that can lead to life-saving cancer screenings, crucial annual flu shots, annual check-ups and/or lifestyle changes.
It’s no surprise that effective health communications is one of the most popular topics delivered by the Health Confianza team, said Jason Rosenfeld, DrPH, associate professor of Medicine, director of Global Health at the Cheever Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics, director of the South Texas CHW Workforce Preparedness Collaborative and co-director of Health Confianza,.
We asked Rosenfeld to share some of the principles that lead to meaningful health conversations in his own words.
*Please note that this primer is intended as introductory information. Health Confianza’s health communication training curriculum offers more in-depth information. Check this website and Health Confianza socials for updates on upcoming trainings.
4 Tips for Health Communication
1. Validate
If a person starts a conversation or asks a question from a particular viewpoint, the first thing you should do is validate and don’t dismiss. In other words, don’t be judgmental about those beliefs and perspectives and validate that their perspective is real and valid.
One way to validate is to say something like “that’s an outstanding question, and not the first time I’ve heard it.” Validating without confirming the accuracy of their statement can help diffuse a tense opener.
2. Active Listening
Another important principle is using active listening, which is when you as the listener are not just waiting for your opportunity to speak. You’re actually listening to, absorbing and responding to the things being said in the conversation.
3. Be Curious
Curiosity is a key part of actively listening. If you are curious, then you are not dismissing what the person is saying. You are responding to them with authentic questions or statements, such as:
- Tell me more?
- What do you mean by that?
- Where did you hear that?
With curiosity, you are leading the person to think about what they are saying and explain their position. You are giving them the space to share their thoughts, and sometimes, not always, they may come to their own ‘aha’ moment.
4. Don’t Seek to Win
Try to enter a conversation to understand and learn versus seeking to win an argument. The minute you seek to win, you are no longer actively listening, you are looking at how you can actively counter the things that they are trying to say.
Curiosity and not seeking to win are interrelated principles. If you go into a conversation with curiosity, then you are naturally asking questions, which leads the individual to share their experience with you. That goes back to our first principle, acknowledging people’s perspectives.
Power of Words:
- The word “and” can be a powerful, useful tool in keeping a conversation going. It is also an antidote to “but,” which can be argumentative.
- “Beware of the but,” said Rosenfeld. “I agree with you, but…” You don’t actually agree because you are using the word but, which serves to negate everything you say before the ‘but’.
- Use bridging statements as a connection between their statement or idea and what you would like them to hear. Examples of some bridging statements are:
-
- That’s really interesting. I have heard something like this…
-
- Have you considered this..
Additional Resources:
https://www.cdc.gov/health-literacy/php/resources/health-literacy-resources.html
https://www.ihi.org/resources/tools/conversation-guide-improve-covid-19-vaccine-uptake
https://publichealthcollaborative.org/communication-tools/plain-language-for-public-health/
https://champsonline.org/resources/quality-improvement-resources/health-literacy-resources