Talking Health and wellness

Phrases like “healthy diet” or “healthier lifestyle” are heard so often that at some point they are just tuned out. We lose interest in the relevancy because it simply becomes a lot of ‘get healthy’ propaganda ‘buy this and you’ll feel better’ marketing speak that is heard as either too difficult, too expensive or not enough what’s in it for me.

But instead of ignoring the constant drumbeat of the ‘what you can do to live a healthier lifestyle’ messaging, the response should really be why? What do I get out of giving up the foods or lifestyle I love and the maybe not so healthy things I do occasionally that make me happy?

It’s a fair but complex question that challenges human health behavior. We live in a diverse, multi-cultural society with numerous influences that affect our behavior and choices everyday regarding what foods we choose, how much or how little exercise we get and the daily habits we create that positively or negatively affect our health. These influences are associated with the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) (Healthy People 2030) and they are the societal areas that hold an enormous burden of influence on where we live, learn, work and play.

There are numerous areas of our lives that can influence our behavior toward our own health and wellness. These include our economic status, how much or how little education we may have. Where we live, our neighborhoods and communities, our families, friends, religious and social organizations all have an influence over our behavior toward our own state of health.

Linking informative messaging to a receptive patient

Understanding these influences helps to create a reason to believe in the mind of the patient and the consumer which can then be established as an honest and trusted connection around their current health issues or the health issues they now see as being preventable. Which means better insight into how these social determinants can be discussed and delivered within the context of a meaningful, productive, one-on-one results driven ROI dialog.

So, how do we educate those who are now receptive, having moved from the pre-contemplation to the contemplation stage of personal change? “When people move from the pre-contemplation to the contemplation (stage), it means they recognize there is a problem and have started thinking about making a change” (Hayden, J., pg. 112, (2019). These are the researched areas when we know patients and consumers are listening and receptive to healthcare messaging. Keeping that messaging relevant and believable, will give them the fact-based, well researched information they are looking for to help them make the right decisions and choices that they now feel confident will ultimately work for them. Because what they are responding to is messaging that they believe will help them change their health behavior and that means there is something in it for them.

Reference 

Haydon, J. (2019). Introduction to Health Behavior Theory, 3rd Edition. Jones & Bartlett LLC, (pg. 112). ISBN 9781284125115

Healthy People 2030, U.S. Dept. HHS, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Retrieved from https://health.gov/healthypeople/priority-areas/social-determinants-health

Photo Credit

Dilok Klaisataporn

Helena Lopes

Links to examples of what health and wellness messaging looks and sounds like when applied to topical health related issues in different formats

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