A Practitioner-Grounded Research Agenda on Communication and Health Equity: Report on Listening Sessions with Four Types of Communicators in Practice
Report Publish Date: June 2024
This report documents listening sessions with communication professionals. The researchers wanted to know what kinds of research would help communicators better convey information about racism and health equity to the public.
There is a need for research on public opinion about health equity and how media influences it, how health equity is being covered and has been covered in the past, journalistic practice and trust-building, and how best to share research with communicators.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic and a public reckoning with racist systems in 2020, the researchers wanted to know what kinds of research would help public communicators, communicators for social change organizations, journalists, and thought leaders better communicate with the public about health equity and racism. They wanted to pose research questions that could inform a health communication research agenda.
The authors interviewed 36 communication professionals about how they talk about health equity, what makes communicating these issues difficult, what resources they use, and what research would be helpful. The researchers used a semi-structured interview guide and AI-assisted live transcription. The authors summarized what they heard using a coding scheme they developed together.
“Communicators serve an important function in shifting narratives and creating the conditions for policy change, and they need more resources and evidence to guide their work.”
—Sarah Gollust, Carson Crane, Quin Nelson, CeRon Ford, and Rebekah Nagler, Collaborative on Media and Messaging for Health and Social Policy
“Communicators serve an important function in shifting narratives and creating the conditions for policy change, and they need more resources and evidence to guide their work,” the authors write.
Communicating about health equity has become increasingly challenging, as the political and communication landscapes have shifted since the public reckoning with racist systems in 2020. To understand the major research needs communicators face in this context, the Collaborative on Media & Messaging for Health and Social Policy conducted semi-structured interviews with 36 practitioners in late 2022 and into 2023. Interviewees were drawn from four groups: communicators from public health organizations; individuals with communication roles from advocacy, organizing, or narrative change sectors; practicing journalists in print, television, and print outlets; and thought- leaders with experience communicating about health equity-related topics to mass audiences.
This report describes the research-related questions these communicators raised, their information or evidence needs, and how they prefer to receive research. The interviews reveal an urgent need for additional research and a bold agenda, ripe for academic and non-academic researchers to fill, consisting of four areas:
Communicators serve an important function in shifting narratives and creating the conditions for policy change, and they need more resources and evidence to guide their work.
Collaborative on Media & Messaging for Health & Social Policy, June 2024
This study and report were conducted and created by the following people.
