We are what we eat. That old expression seems particularly poignant every time we have our blood drawn for a routine physical to check our cholesterol levels. And, it's not just what we eat that affects our health. Whole ranges of behaviors ultimately make a difference in how we feel and how we maintain our health. Lifestyle choices have enormous impact on our health and well being. But, how do we communicate the language of good health so that it is uniformly received-and accepted-by people from different cultures and backgrounds? Take, for example, the case of a 66 year old Latina. She has been told by her doctor that she should have a mammogram. But her sense of fatalism tells her that it is better not to know if anything is wrong. To know that something is wrong will cause her distress and this may well lead to even more health problems. Before she leaves her doctor's office she has decided not to have a mammogram-that is until her doctor points out that having a mammogram is a way to take care of herself so that she can continue to take care of her family. In this way, the decision to have a mammogram feels like a positive step. Public health communicators and health professionals face dilemmas like this every day. Speaking of Health looks at the challenges of delivering important messages to different audiences. Using case studies in the areas of diabetes, mammography, and mass communication campaigns, it examines the ways in which messages must be adapted to the unique informational needs of their audiences if they are to have any real impact. Speaking of Health looks at basic theories of communication and behavior change and focuses on where they apply and where they don't. By suggesting creative strategies and guidelines for speaking to diverse audiences now and in the future, the Institute of Medicine seeks to take health communication into the 21st century. In an age where we are inundated by multiple messages every day, this book will be a critical tool for all who are interested in communicating with diverse communities about health issues.

Your knees are shaking, your throat is dry, and out in front of you in the Lerenbaum Room of the Ramada Inn is the 167th Annual Meeting of the Tucson Dentists Weekend Warrior Organization. You step to the podium, there’s a short crackle of microphone feedback, and all eyes are on you. What do you say? Are you prepared enough? Will your audience love you? Hate you? If these are your fears, put them away and open up Professionally Speaking: Public Speaking for Health Professionals. In it, you’ll learn how to turn weak knees and wishy-washy introductions into confident gestures and words of wisdom. Packed with examples and proven tips and techniques from the front lines of public convention speaking, this helpful volume has everything you need to transform your next presentation from so-so to successful. Professionally Speaking will help you in both professional speaking and teaching scenarios. You’ll find its practical advice and helpful guidelines will enhance your performance at the podium by one hundred percent. Specifically, you’ll get page after page of useful direction in these and other important but seldom-talked-about areas: how to select, write, and deliver a talk use of voice speech preparation and the use of slides icebreakers giving good introductions and avoiding trail-offs keeping on the audience’s “good side” chalk talks the proper use of humor Anyone who has faced or will face the potential disaster of addressing a large audience of colleagues--mental health professionals, dentists, physicians, pharmacists, for example--will want to consult Professionally Speaking before his or her next scheduled speech. Useful as an introductory guide for beginners or a supplementary text for seasoned veterans, this practical, one-of-a-kind look at public speaking will change the way you see your audience and improve the way they listen to you.

In compelling first-person accounts, Latinas speak freely about dealing with serious health episodes as patients, family caregivers, or friends. They show how the complex interweaving of gender, class, and race impacts the health status of Latinas—and how family, spirituality, and culture affect the experience of illness. Here are stories of Latinas living with conditions common to many: hypertension, breast cancer, obesity, diabetes, depression, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, dementia, Parkinson’s, lupus, and hyper/hypothyroidism. By bringing these narratives out from the shadows of private lives, they demonstrate how such ailments form part of the larger whole of Latina lives that encompasses family, community, the medical profession, and society. They show how personal identity and community intersect to affect the interpretation of illness, compliance with treatment, and the utilization of allopathic medicine, alternative therapies, and traditional healing practices. The book also includes a retrospective analysis of the narratives and a discussion of Latina health issues and policy recommendations. These Latina cultural narratives illustrate important aspects of the social contexts and real-world family relationships crucial to understanding illness. Speaking from the Body is a trailblazing collection of personal testimonies that integrates professional and personal perspectives and shows that our understanding of health remains incomplete if Latina cultural narratives are not included.

More than fifty Black women write about the health issues that affect them and their communities, and includes essays by Toni Morrison, bell hooks, and Zora Neale Hurston

Strong communication skills are required of today's health care practitioners. This guide contains practical advice on a broad range of essential communication skills for health-care practitioners.

In this book, the authors highlight the importance of eliminating health disparities and increasing the access of Native Americans to critical substance abuse and mental health services. While most chapters are framed in scientific terms, they are concerned with promoting healing through changes in the way we treat our sick-spiritually, traditionally, ceremonially, and scientifically-whether in rural areas, on reservations, and in cities. The book will be a valuable resource for medical and mental health professionals, medical anthropologists, and the Native health community. Visit our website for sample chapters!

The ultimate women's guide to sexual health?new from Dr. Ruth In this down-to-earth guide, celebrated sex expert and bestselling author Dr. Ruth Westheimer teams up with prominent gynecologist at Cornell and New York Presbyterian Medical Centers, Dr. Amos Grunebaum, to address the most pressing health issues women face today. Written in Dr. Ruth's refreshingly candid and lively style, it gives you everything you need to take charge of your health?from finding a gynecologist to having a happy sex life to planning or avoiding a pregnancy. With practical advice and information for every age and stage of a woman's life, Sexually Speaking is an invaluable reference you will turn to again and again. Covers everything you've ever wanted to know about women's health?from celebrated sex expert and therapist Dr. Ruth and top gynecologist Dr. Amos Addresses questions related to sexuality, hormones, STDs, pregnancy, menopause, fibroids, ovarian cancer, and other women's health concerns Helps you overcome embarrassment and other common obstacles to understanding and safeguarding your personal health Combines Dr. Ruth's straightforward, reassuring approach to some of the more challenging and uncomfortable concerns related to women's health and the expertise of Dr. Amos, who has seen it all?from routine exams to high risk births

The demand for health information continues to increase, but the ability of health professionals to provide it clearly remains variable. The aim of this book is (1) to summarize and synthesize research on the selection and presentation of data pertinent to public health, and (2) to provide practical suggestions, based on this research summary and synthesis, on how scientists and other public health practitioners can better communicate data to the public, policy makers, and the press in typical real-world situations. Because communication is complex and no one approach works for all audiences, the authors emphasize how to communicate data "better" (and in some instances, contrast this with how to communicate data "worse"), rather than attempting a cookbook approach. The book contains a wealth of case studies and other examples to illustrate major points, and actual situations whenever possible. Key principles and recommendations are summarized at the end of each chapter. This book will stimulate interest among public health practitioners, scholars, and students to more seriously consider ways they can understand and improve communication about data and other types of scientific information with the public, policy makers, and the press. Improved data communication will increase the chances that evidence-based scientific findings can play a greater role in improving the public's health.

"In a stirring and radical new treatise from one of America's most respected voices in health and medicine, Well examines the subtle factors that determine who gets to be healthy in the United States. Physician Sandro Galea reckons with our country's many fraught relationships--with history, money, pain, and pleasure, which are in turn augmented by factors like luck, compassion, and values--in terms of how they determine the health of those in the world's richest country. Well represents a radical new approach to Americans' ingrained understanding of health. It examines the forces that are not typically part of the health discussion--but should be--and is a clarion call for where the country goes from here"--

The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.