Workshop: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Using Social Science to Improve Health Outcomes

本次会议将汇集来自健康传播和社会科学领域的社会科学家，他们专门研究人类传播和决策的分析。卫生信息往往是在紧张和充满冲突的环境中传递的。人们可能会对长期疾病或死亡的前景感到焦虑，或者可能会质疑卫生从业人员的动机。研究政治环境中沟通、学习和决策的社会科学家已经记录了类似环境中的学习结果。社会科学家已经研究了许多情况，在这些情况下，信息的接受者使用被他们先前的信念或态度扭曲的认知过程来扭曲、构建或解释新的信息，以满足他们的感知需求。然而，很少有公共卫生或医疗传播者意识到这一知识基础，几乎没有人将其纳入其传播战略。还有一个问题是，记者和政治倡导者对推进自己的议程感兴趣，他们表现出自己对疫苗接种等关键话题的了解与受过训练的研究人员一样多，甚至更多。这使得许多观众对新信息的处理变得复杂。会议将集中讨论如何改善关键医疗和公共卫生信息向非学术受众的传播，汇集科学传播专家、致力于改善公共卫生信息传递的学者以及研究人们如何学习的心理基础的社会科学家。你们的会议既将利用卫生科学家的知识，也将通过他们与主要社会科学家的互动来协助他们的工作。将社会科学纳入有关医学和公共卫生的对话中，可能对改善国民健康和减轻医疗保健系统的压力至关重要。专门研究大众健康行为和向非科学受众传播研究结果的公共卫生研究人员有经验，他们可以与社会科学家分享，包括讨论做两件事：改变大众对健康相关行为的态度，改善卫生从业人员与患者沟通的手段。这个提议的研讨会的重点是如何改善对非学术受众的关键医疗和公共卫生信息的传播，汇集了科学传播专家，致力于改善公共卫生信息传递的学者，以及关注人们如何学习的心理基础的社会科学家。pi邀请25-30人积极参与会议。研讨会包括八个会议，由两位演讲者和一个主题演讲。会议主题包括科学发现的传播、改善公共卫生的挑战、决策中的科学传播、什么样的信息能在人群之间和群体之间引起信任、社会科学素养以及改善公共卫生和社会科学进程。

General SummaryThe proposed conference will bring together social scientists who specialize in the analysis of human communication and decision-making from the fields of health communication and the social sciences. Health information is often conveyed in tense, conflict-laden environments. People may be anxious about long-term illness or the prospect of death, or may question the motives of health practitioners. Social scientists who study communication, learning, and decision making in political environments have documented learning outcomes in similar environments. Social scientists have studied many situations where receivers of information use a cognitive process distorted by their prior beliefs or attitudes to distort, frame, or interpret new information to suit their perceived needs. Yet, few public health or medical communicators are aware of this knowledge base and almost none integrate it into their communication strategies. Also problematic is the fact that journalists and political advocates, interested in advancing their own agendas, present themselves as knowing as much or more than trained researchers about critical topics such as vaccination. This complicates the processing of new information for many audience members. The conference will focus on how to improve communication of critical medical and public health information to non-academic audiences, bringing together experts on science communication, scholars working to improve public health messaging, and social scientists who study the psychological foundations of how people learn. Technical SummaryOur conference will both leverage what health scientists know and also assist them in their work through their interactions with leading social scientists. Bringing the social sciences into conversations about medicine and public health may be critical to improving the nation's health and reducing strains on its health care system. Public health researchers who specialize in research about mass health behavior and communicating findings to non-scientific audiences have experiences that they can share with social scientists, including discussions to do two things: change mass attitudes about health-related behaviors, and improve the means by which health practitioners communicate with patients. This proposed workshop focuses on how to improve communication of critical medical and public health information to non-academic audiences, bringing together experts on science communication, scholars working to improve public health messaging, and social scientists who focus on the psychological foundations of how people learn. The PIs invite 25-30 people to participate actively in the conference. The workshop includes eight sessions with two presenters and a keynote address. Session topics include communication of science findings, challenges in improving public health, scientific communication in decision making, what information elicits trust across and between groups of people, social scientific literacy, and improving public health and social science processes.