August 25, 2023
Contact: Brian Consiglio, 573-882-9144, [email protected]
A new Health Humanities essay from the University of Missouri finds that the narratives of many news stories detailing the challenges of health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic often emphasize personal experiences. It highlights that there is However, many of these news stories omit the broader public health, socioeconomic and environmental contexts that are important to how news consumers form their thoughts about and respond to the pandemic. often
By introducing a storytelling framework that emphasizes core tenets of public health, the authors guide journalists, policy makers, and public health humanities experts on how to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic. We want to help them reframe how scientific information is disseminated, not just how we capture and tell stories. , whether it is absorbed or rejected, and what emotions the data evoke in news consumers.
Lise Safran, associate professor at MU Health Sciences University and principal investigator of this essay, describes how healthcare workers are featured in news stories in American newspapers and television during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyzed whether it is attached. She then tells stories about her three common themes related to clinicians as vulnerable frontline workers, clinicians’ frustration with vaccines and resistance cover-ups, and clinicians as heroes. classified into
Clinicians as Vulnerable Frontline Workers
Countless news stories highlight the risks of individual health care workers assisting infected patients in hospitals, while women and people of color are disproportionately represented in the 7 million households and personal care assistants. Articles about essential low-wage workers near people dominated. It is even rarer, despite having a higher prevalence of exposure to COVID-19 than the general population.
“It’s not that the story being told is inaccurate, it’s just that it’s often incomplete or doesn’t incorporate the broader context that gives a more holistic view of the situation,” Safran said. . “For example, there were many detailed articles about bosses urging employees to return to in-person rather than remote work, but more broadly, there were stories about employees at risk, such as grocery store employees who had no choice. People who are exposed may also be mentioned: working remotely in the first place.Spreading the story not only helps build feelings of empathy and It can also spark debate about how structural and systemic inequalities can be addressed.”
Clinician frustration with vaccines and resistance concealment
In some news articles, clinicians who said they were initially unsympathetic to those who chose not to be vaccinated reported that patients may have been misunderstood or misinformed. He detailed that he suddenly felt compassion for unvaccinated patients after realizing something.
“Rather than talking only about these specific people, how can we broaden the conversation to think about people who have not been vaccinated and who are not yet sick? How do you generally think about reluctance to get vaccinated instead of just thinking about it,” Safran said. “Broadening the story helps reframe thinking about the idea of responsibility, responsibility, empathy, and compassion. The public health paradigm works by thinking about the broader context we give.”
Clinicians as Heroes
News articles frequently feature the heroism of hospital clinicians who risk their own health to help patients without proper personal protective equipment (PPE) or adequate staffing. was given.
“These practitioners are heroes, but how do we frame possible solutions to the structural and systemic failures that make clinicians heroes in the first place, such as lack of PPE and understaffing? Is it?” Saffron said. He said. “We also tend to tell the story through an American lens, but in developing and less-industrialized countries there are even greater disparities in healthcare, adequate personal protective equipment, and staffing. So how we frame these stories determines how we respond: do we ask clinicians to be heroes, or are we asking institutions to fill the gap? Are you trying to change?”
Future impact
Saffron’s ultimate goal is to help storytellers broaden their narratives through a more inclusive public health humanities framework. This has implications not only for enhancing feelings of empathy and compassion, but also for influencing policy decisions to address social inequalities and improve health outcomes for underserved populations. affect. .
“Whether we are aware of it or not, when we consume news stories, we develop ideas about what policy should be and ask questions like ‘Why is this happening? Safran, who taught public health storytelling and earned a master’s degree in Fine Arts and Creative Writing from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, says, “Rather than humans approach science and data through a strictly analytical lens, humanities We relate to matter through the values, identities and fears we incorporate.”
“‘You just get emotionally broken’: Understanding the story of COVID-19 through the humanities of public health,” recently published medical humanities. Ashti Doabay-Persaud is a co-author of this study.
