Discover how to write life-changing health content and grow your writing career. Explore the latest health communication research and get best-practice writing strategies that work.
As health writers, we focus a lot of our energy on knowledge. We write ‘how to’ articles about eating better, exercising more, breaking bad habits, making healthy choices and reducing risk factors. We offer knowledge – but, we rarely sell the desire to change.
This is a question that comes up often in my course groups. And, it’s reasonable and natural to worry about time. Time is money. The less time you spend writing, the more money you make. The more time you spend researching, writing, reviewing and refining, the more your hourly rate drops.
Eye movement patterns, health halo claims, genetic cancer risk information, pamphlets v online content and more: browse the latest health communication research.
As health writers, we need to recognise and understand the social factors that limit health literacy so we can help our readers understand our health information. We can do this by looking at the key outcomes from a range of health literacy research into both local and global communities.
As health writers, we need to identify the ideal medium to share our key messages to our target audience to ensure our writing influences health outcomes.
Low health literacy is a risk factor for potentially preventable emergency room visits, and vaccine info in comic form helps to make an impact. Those are just two of many new findings in the field of health communication.
How do you get experience if everyone wants someone with experience?
Confidence is a common concern for writers. So, is it possible to build self-assurance and courage, and which methods really work?
Reactance, food labelling, HPV vaccines, and more – browse the latest in evidence-based health communication.
While quality medical evidence underlies accurate health writing, clear writing helps the information translate easily – enter the concept of ‘processing fluency’.
While confidence and perseverance are important, there are a few other mindset attributes that – I believe – will help you tremendously in your writing life.
Natural cigarettes create a ‘health halo’. Preconception care as ‘the next frontier’. Friends don’t let friends smoke. There’s always plenty of new, interesting research in our field – and, there’s no shortage of writing strategies to try out, too.
Health risk information is better received when you ask your readers to identify their own values and beliefs before communicating the risks.
Could understanding more about selective exposure help us write engaging content? One study looked at how selective exposure influences attitudes towards health behaviours.
New research provides insight into how we can help high-school students understand health information and make better-informed health decisions.