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University of Wisconsin researchers recently won a National Science Foundation award for developing effective and comprehensive community engagement strategies for Wisconsin’s black communities, the Life Science Communications website reported.
Communication Arts Professor Lily Williamson is on the team that won the grant. According to Williamson, people often talk about mistrust of medicine in black communities based on specific historical events, e.g. Tuskegee Syphilis Study And Henrietta Lack.
But Williamson says focusing on specific historical examples can help address the injustices black communities face today.
“The reasons for distrust are not only historical, but present–black Americans continue to experience oppression and medical racism,” Williamson said.
LSC Professor Michael Xenos and LSC Assistant Professor Todd Newman are working with Williamson on the research. According to an emailed statement from Newman, conventional research methods in health and science communication examine populations as a whole, not specific communities.
Newman said the team chose to pursue this project because they wanted to understand how people’s experiences shape their opinions on scientific issues. In order to develop effective health and science communication messages, they need to involve the public in the research process, Newman said.
“Sometimes you hear people talk about ‘reducing medical mistrust’ by educating communities or dissuading them from mistrust,” Williamson said. “To me, this is the wrong approach. Trying to dissuade people from trusting institutions or systems that could harm them can be harmful.
Williamson hopes the team will understand how black communities make sense of the scientific and health information they encounter. They also hope to understand how much individuals perceive health and science misinformation and how people process that information.
As of 2011 LSC websitethe researchers will be partners HealthTIDEWisconsin Community Partners working to develop and analyze communication strategies to address health disparities, combat scientific misinformation in Black communities.
The best communication strategies start with understanding your audience, Newman said. Williamson said they want to understand the strategies that community members use to control scientific misinformation and the strategies that communities think are useful for controlling misinformation.
The communities they choose to work with should also benefit from the research process. People are devoting their time and energy to these conversations, so research questions shouldn’t be based solely on the questions researchers want to answer, Williamson said.
“Our goal is to develop insights that reflect the unique and diverse experiences of Black Americans, and to promote better and more competent and responsive communication about science in Black communities across the country,” Newman said.
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