COUNT ME IN!    Jack Elinson
On Thu, 22 Aug 2002, Jack Elinson wrote:

> 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
> >
>
>