Foundational Skills for Communicating About Health
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Foundational Skills for Communicating About Health
Instructor: Brian Zikmund-Fisher
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What you'll learn
Define and collect important information about a target audience in order to make appropriate decisions about the communication effort
Select an audience-appropriate communications goal
Craft a clear, concise core message for a communication effort
Deploy at least two different types of narrative structures to support communications about health topics
Details to know
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There are 5 modules in this course
Effective communication is a core skill that nearly every health professional will need and use during their careers. Yet, few health professionals receive even basic training in how to design communications to be clear and successful. As “foundational skills,” the content in this course can be applied to both oral and written communication, within and beyond health.
Learners will develop the skills to: analyze and tailor a communication effort for different audiences, develop clear messages, create logical and compelling stories, understand and apply important considerations with language as well as nonverbal communication. This course is valuable and appropriate for both beginning and experienced health professionals who need to communicate effectively with other professionals, patients, policymakers, or the broader public.. Content is relevant to public health professionals, clinicians of all types (medical, nursing, dentists, social work, etc.), health advocates, and scientists and researchers in any health domain..
In Week 1, we will consider how knowing your audience and your specific goals are the critical first steps to designing effective communications.
What's included
8 videos4 readings5 assignments1 discussion prompt
8 videos•Total 51 minutes
- Fundamental Concepts•3 minutes
- What can go wrong?•7 minutes
- Audience and Goals•11 minutes
- Creating an Audience-Goal Worksheet•7 minutes
- Audience-Goals Example: Community Brochure•5 minutes
- Audience-Goals Example: Scientific Conference•6 minutes
- Audience-Goals Example: Advocacy Brief•5 minutes
- Audience-Goals Example: This Course Segment•5 minutes
4 readings•Total 17 minutes
- Faculty Introduction and Acknowledgements•1 minute
- Course Syllabus•10 minutes
- Help Us Learn More About You!•5 minutes
- Note about videos•1 minute
5 assignments•Total 60 minutes
- Introductory Story of Science exercise•20 minutes
- Audience / Goals Practice: Public Meeting•10 minutes
- Audience / Goals Practice: Genetic Test Report•10 minutes
- Audience / Goals Practice: Annual Clinic Report•10 minutes
- Audience / Goals Practice: Airport Poster•10 minutes
1 discussion prompt•Total 10 minutes
- Example of a Health Communication Gone Wrong•10 minutes
In Week 2, we will focus on developing clear takeaway messages so that communications can achieve their objectives.
What's included
6 videos2 readings8 assignments1 plugin
6 videos•Total 40 minutes
- The Importance of Message Prioritization•7 minutes
- What makes a good Central Message?•7 minutes
- Idea Space•4 minutes
- Inverted Triangle•7 minutes
- Inverted Triangle Examples•11 minutes
- Inverted Triangle Useful Structure•4 minutes
2 readings•Total 11 minutes
- Half-Life Your Message Activity Instructions•10 minutes
- A Note About The Next Set Of Items•1 minute
8 assignments•Total 90 minutes
- Half-Life Your Message Reflection•15 minutes
- Evaluate summary using rubric (2)•10 minutes
- Create a Central Message•30 minutes
- How many points in a paragraph (1) •5 minutes
- How many points in a paragraph (2) •5 minutes
- How many points in a paragraph (3)•5 minutes
- Critique / rewrite paragraphs•10 minutes
- Evaluate summary using rubric (1)•10 minutes
1 plugin•Total 13 minutes
- VIDEO Half-Life Your Message•13 minutes
This week, we focus on using plain language to avoid jargon, and continue to practice finding a clear central message.
What's included
4 videos2 assignments1 peer review
4 videos•Total 31 minutes
- Central Messages in Data Graphics•11 minutes
- Active vs. Passive Voice•6 minutes
- Tools and Sites for Plain Language•9 minutes
- Dejargonizer video•6 minutes
2 assignments•Total 30 minutes
- Passive voice to active voice•10 minutes
- Replacing jargon in sentences•20 minutes
1 peer review•Total 60 minutes
- 3 Paragraph Summary Assignment•60 minutes
In Week 4, we will learn how to use narrative forms to tell the story of science and how to think about the larger macro-structures of messages, especially when your message is designed to advocate for your central point.
What's included
13 videos3 readings2 assignments1 peer review
13 videos•Total 56 minutes
- Power of Stories•5 minutes
- The Link Between Messaging and Narrative•4 minutes
- Health Sciences & Management Can be Stories•5 minutes
- ABT (And, But, Therefore)•7 minutes
- ABT in Science Stories•6 minutes
- Other Examples of ABT•4 minutes
- ABT X 2•5 minutes
- The Findings ABT•2 minutes
- Post-Interview debrief Dr. Skip Lupia•4 minutes
- One-pager Briefs•5 minutes
- Advocacy Examples: Inverted Triangles + ABT•3 minutes
- Advocacy Example: Repeated Inverted Triangle•5 minutes
- Macro- vs. Micro-Message Structures•2 minutes
3 readings•Total 30 minutes
- External Video (10 min): Communicating to Policymakers•10 minutes
- Letter to EPA: CPP Replacement•10 minutes
- Letter to EPA: Toxic Substance Control Act•10 minutes
2 assignments•Total 65 minutes
- Evaluate ABT x 2 examples•20 minutes
- Create ABT x 2 from provided research paper•45 minutes
1 peer review•Total 60 minutes
- Create ABTx2 from provided research paper for peer review•60 minutes
In Week 5, we will learn oral presentation skills, create a final written assignment summarizing a scientific article for a different audience, and (optionally) create a short video presentation for a public audience.
What's included
2 videos6 readings5 assignments1 peer review
2 videos•Total 18 minutes
- Vocal Tones and Nonverbals•10 minutes
- Giving Constructive Feedback•7 minutes
6 readings•Total 39 minutes
- Vocal Tone Handout•3 minutes
- Resources and Hand-Outs•10 minutes
- Course Feedback•10 minutes
- Congratulations! Course Complete•5 minutes
- Citation correction•1 minute
- Keep Learning with Michigan Online!•10 minutes
5 assignments•Total 75 minutes
- Video Analysis - Step 1 •10 minutes
- Video Analysis - Step 2•10 minutes
- Video Analysis - Step 3•10 minutes
- Rubric Training Video Presentation Evaluation•15 minutes
- Rubric Training: Written Report Evaluation•30 minutes
1 peer review•Total 120 minutes
- Advocacy 1-Pager Final Assignment•120 minutes
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Reviewed on Jun 27, 2021
It is a well designed course and has helped us understand the basics and structuring required for Health Communication
Reviewed on Jun 18, 2021
thank you very much for this skills gain course,this course is very helpful to increase my communicating skills.a lot of thanks to instructer and team coursera.thank you very much.
Reviewed on May 17, 2023
This class gave me so many useful tips! Thank you for the excellent instruction and the thoughtful way the class was organized. I cannot say enough good things about this instructor. Well done.
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