WVU professors: Health-care reform should start with better health literacy
The health-care reform debate has raged all summer, with lots of arguments pro and con, and much information – some useful, some not.
Now, two WVU marketing professors have published an article that gives the U.S. low marks for health literacy and places the blame on poor approaches to communications, something that is undoubtedly affects our health-care system.
Writing in The Journal of Consumer Affairs, Drs. Karen France and Paula Bone contend that too much information about health issues, along with inaccurate, confusing and contradicting information, among other factors, are a part of what’s wrong with the nation’s health-care system.
“I think health literacy is certainly relevant in the current debate,” commented Dr. Bone. “There are a lot of choices that must be made, and we need to find out how to help people make the best decisions themselves. And it’s way more than just providing enormous pamphlets.”
In the article, Bone contends that consumer responsibility is also important. If citizens are taking actions that put their health at risk, or failing to take actions that will improve their health—actions that are under their control—then that needs to be built into health-communication efforts.
Unfortunately, those communicating about health issues must understand that consumers often lack motivation or fail to see the need to use information or engage in health-enhancing behaviors. “The same as in other areas of consumer self-protection,” they argue in the article, “some people are simply not interested in looking for information they are fully capable of understanding.”
And information overload is not helping the situation. “A lot of the theories we have in marketing and psychology on how to best communicate to consumers are not being used effectively to improve health literacy in this country,” Dr. France said. “For example, in an effort to be comprehensive, to include all the pertinent information, there is information overload—consumers simply cannot process that amount of information—and the things we want consumers to understand are lost in the process.”
She gives the example how consumers choose health insurance plans. “We know from consumer behavior research that people can handle three to seven—seven being the maximum—pieces of information at one time. The temptation to provide all the relevant information is strong; we have so much we need to share. However, health care educators and communicators should stop using this tactic.”
They characterize the consumer health market as “rife with inaccurate information.” An example is consumers' belief that autism is caused by childhood immunizations, although research shows this is unlikely. Another example is genetically modified food. “Consumers fret about the safety of consuming foods developed using biotechnology…” Yet, there is no scientific evidence that foods developed using biotechnology pose any risk greater than that posed by those developed using traditional cross-breeding techniques.”
France earned a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. She does research in public policy including topics in pricing perceptions, promotional practices and packaging perceptions. She teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in marketing. Bone earned a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. She specializes in consumer behavior, public policy and marketing ethics. She and France had the opportunity to present their findings to the United States Food and Drug Administration in September of 2004. She is also studying how consumers make trade-offs between short-term pleasures and long-term goals.
Read the article in the Journal of Consumer Affairs.
Contact:
Karen France
304.293.7957
kfrance2@wvu.edu
Paula Bone
304.293.7959
pbone@wvu.edu
