{"id":38742,"date":"2020-05-15T10:28:15","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T14:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/?p=38742"},"modified":"2021-07-20T09:27:05","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T13:27:05","slug":"health-communications-researcher-breaks-science-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/health-communications-researcher-breaks-science-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Health communications researcher breaks science down"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In a public health crisis, it\u2019s critically important that public health recommendations come from trusted sources.<\/p>\n

Anthony Fauci, an immunologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, has become a household name by being a steady, reliable source for the latest information about the novel coronavirus that\u2019s infected millions of people worldwide. And he\u2019s done it in a climate of unprecedented uncertainty.<\/p>\n

But frequently, scientists like Fauci need help translating their vast expertise into digestible advice people can use.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when they turn to people like Glen Nowak.<\/p>\n

Nowak leads the University of Georgia\u2019s Center for Health and Risk Communications and focuses much of his scholarship on infectious diseases and vaccination\u2014including what motivates people to get vaccinated or not, and what kinds of communications could potentially change their minds. Before that, he served as the director of communications of the national immunization program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, followed by a six-year stint as director of media relations at the CDC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a brand new infectious disease, you know very little,\u201d said Nowak, professor of advertising in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. \u201cAnd what you don\u2019t know way exceeds what you do know. You need to let people know that the recommendations you give today may be different tomorrow, when more information is known.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowak joined CDC right around the time that a well-known, now discredited study claimed to have found a link between autism and the common childhood MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella. Nowak had previously worked with CDC scientists to improve communications about HIV\/AIDS communications. But the vaccine controversy was a crash course in determining what messages resonate the best with parents and are most likely to prompt them to vaccinate their children.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section css=”.vc_custom_1567710408463{background-color: #e4ddc7 !important;}” el_class=”fw-polygon”][vc_row equal_height=”yes” bg_type=”bg_color”][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1567710326062{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}” el_class=”polygon-wrapper”][vc_raw_html el_class=”polygon” css=”.vc_custom_1626445955840{background-image: url(https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/07\/Nowak-Glen-2.jpg?id=38725) !important;}”]JTNDJTIxLS1sZWF2ZSUyMHRoaXMlMjBlbXB0eS0tJTNF[\/vc_raw_html][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″ el_class=”polygon-content”][vc_column_text el_class=”testimonial”]\u201cWhen you have a brand new infectious disease, you know very little … You need to let people know that the recommendations you give today may be different tomorrow, when more information is known.\u201d<\/strong><\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”credit”]<\/p>\n

\u2013 Glen Nowak, Director, Center for Health and Risk Communications<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”text-container”]One thing was obvious: Just providing information doesn\u2019t cut it.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times, people want to say that they want to communicate or do health communications, but what they really want to do is find out how they can get their point of view and materials to whoever they have targeted,\u201d Nowak said. \u201cThen, oftentimes, they\u2019re surprised when their materials and information reach those people and fail to persuade them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Communication, Nowak said, is about dialogue, listening and trying to understand the world through the lens of the people you\u2019re trying to reach. For vaccines, that means training health care professionals to effectively communicate the importance and safety of childhood vaccinations. And in pro-vaccination ad campaigns, that means featuring doctors and nurses prominently because those are the people parents trust most when it comes to caring for their children. For encouraging people to get flu shots, it means emphasizing that the vaccine protects not only the person who gets the shot but also loved ones who are more vulnerable to becoming severely ill.<\/p>\n

Communicating about COVID-19 has been much different. Experts started out saying masks were unnecessary only to reverse course and implore everyone to wear a mask when they\u2019re in public. Hydroxychloroquine started as a promising medical treatment for COVID patients only to have doctors later say they weren\u2019t seeing a benefit to using the drug, but they did see serious side effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdeally, rapid changes in advice wouldn\u2019t happen,\u201d Nowak said. \u201cOne of the key principles that\u2019s guiding you in your public health communication is that you\u2019re probably not making endorsements of things prematurely. Typically, when you\u2019re in an environment where there is so much uncertainty, you have to be cautious when you\u2019re making statements of certainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

But overall, Nowak thinks both public health officials and the news media largely have done admirably navigating these ever-changing waters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve come to learn through my experience in research that a lot of what we do in health communications is setting, guiding and managing people\u2019s expectations,\u201d Nowak said. Using press conferences to update the public on the situation and what experts believe will unfold in the days and weeks ahead is imperative. But that\u2019s not the only thing people need to hear.<\/p>\n

\u201cLetting people know that we can and will get through this,\u201d Nowak said, \u201cyou have to have those positive affirmations.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section css=”.vc_custom_1567780280331{background-color: #000000 !important;}” el_class=”white research-spotlight”][vc_row el_class=”text-container”][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”38743″ img_size=”200×200″ alignment=”right” style=”vc_box_circle_2″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_raw_html css=”.vc_custom_1567780668979{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]JTNDcCUyMGNsYXNzJTNEJTIyc3ViaGVhZGluZyUyMiUzRUFib3V0JTIwdGhlJTIwUmVzZWFyY2hlciUzQyUyRnAlM0U=[\/vc_raw_html][vc_column_text el_class=”white”]<\/p>\n

Glen Nowak<\/h3>\n

Director, Center for Health and Risk Communications
\nProfessor
\nGrady College of Journalism & Mass Communication[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”text-container” css=”.vc_custom_1626787618793{padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

Support Public Health Communications Research<\/h2>\n

Donate to the Center for Health and Risk Communication<\/p>\n

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