OK. Do it!
=========
On Wed, 27 Mar 2002, King David wrote:
> Colleagues, What do you think about starting an 'international social
> determinants of health week' (or something with a bit of a snappier title)?
> The aim would be to counteract the myth, perpetuated by some state agencies
> and the popular media that health is solely a product of individual
> behaviour and the number of doctors and hospitals in your locality. Everyone
> involved in 'Health' would be encouraged to focus upstream, if only for a
> week. Those involved in Public Health and Health Promotion would be
> encouraged to take to the streets to engage with the public and discuss
> factors - other than individual behaviour - which impact on their health and
> to gauge what public support there is for the programmes and interventions
> they are engaged in presently. The week could be supplemented with media
> campaigns, perhaps incorporating the expertise of socially aware PR agencies
> e.g. adbusters http://www.adbusters.org/ . The 'week' would counteract the
> numerous 'awareness' days and weeks that perpetuate bio medical behaviour
> change approaches and begin to gain a popular mandate for action on social
> determinants of health... any comments?
>
> David King
> Health Promotion Service
> Barnet Primary Care Trust
> Hyde House
> The Hyde
> London NW9 6QQ
>
> email: [log in to unmask]
> tel: (020) 8201 4860 (w)
> tel: 07973 739 158 (m)
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dennis Raphael [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 24 March 2002 00:39
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: media suffering from tunnel vision
>
>
> Mar 20, 2002
> Media suffering from tunnel vision
>
> Daily stories about a shortage of health care funding and miraculous
> medical
> discoveries may be symptomatic of a serious malady afflicting the news media
> speculates Michael Hayes. "Tunnel vision," suggests the Simon Fraser
> University
> health geographer and associate director of the institute for health
> research
> and education. Hayes specializes in population health research and leads a
> collaborative project called Telling stories: news media, health literacy
> and
> public policy.The three year project, funded by a $175,000 grant from the
> Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, will generate empirical
> analysis of health literacy in Canadian news media. Faculty from SFU's
> school
> of communication (Bob Hackett and Donald Gustein) and the University of
> Calgary,
> B.C. 's provincial health officer and the Institute of Media, Policy and
> Civil
> Society are collaborating on the study.
>
> Hayes' group recently gathered some telling evidence in a pilot project
> aimed
> at testing the study's methodology and content analysis tools. "We found
> that
> an overwhelming number of health stories in major newspapers deal
> obsessively
> with shortages in healthcare services and funding, and medical
> discoveries,"
> says Hayes. "The
> last 30 years of federal health policy-making have been based on evidence
> that
> factors outside the health care system are fundamental to determining and
> maintaining a population's health. Yet very few of the stories we analysed
> dealt with health determinants such as housing, nature of work, poverty or
> income distribution."
>
> The pilot project analysed 500 health stories published collectively over a
> year in five major newspapers: The Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto
> Star,
> Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun. "We know that the news media
> significantly
> impact public opinion. Research shows that risk factors for mortality as
> presented in the media often
> don't jive at all with the empirical evidence," says Hayes. He adds this
> kind
> of reporting feeds public pressure for short term, immediate solutions to
> health
> care shortages. Policy makers need to second the news media's help in
> shifting
> public opinion if we are to focus on early developmental and life long
> factors
> that influence health outcomes over the life course, says Hayes.
>
> The SFU professor's collaborative study will gather empirical evidence on
> the
> extent to which the news media set the public agenda on health and what
> influences their decision-making. The group's research will culminate in
> workshops aimed at stimulating health reporting and public discourse that
> better addresses the broad spectrum of determinants affecting population
> health.
>
> Hayes notes that this study is unique in its focus and broad-based,
> interdisciplinary approach. "One study published recently analysed health
> reporting in Dutch newspapers, but there has been no empirical
> analysis of the media's portrayal of health issues in Canada," notes Hayes.
> "This project also brings together academic researchers and media analysts
> from
> non profit groups to uncover and share information."
>
> Hayes also has a $521,000 grant over three years to analyse and correlate
> information from a variety of databases about the distribution of health
> status
> in the Lower Mainland. Using 26 population health determinants, the study
> will
> integrate information from municipal, regional and provincial databases to
> create a big picture of health status in the metropolitan Vancouver region.
> The
> Canadian Institute for Health Information is funding this project through
> its
> Canadian Population Health Initiative.
>
> -30 -
>
> CONTACT
> Michael Hayes, 604.268.6648, [log in to unmask]
> Carol Thorbes, Media & PR, 604.291.3035
>
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