Moving Towards a Healthier America

In the Ariticle, Risk Communication, the West Nile Virus Epidemic, and the Bioterrorism:  Responding to the Communication Challenges Posed by the Intentional or Unintentional Releas of a Pathoden in an Urban Setting, tips about effective and non-effective risk communication were given.  The advice given here I could take away and use when writing my own risk communication about obesity. 

The first thing this article was to give a detailed definition of risk communication, which is “an interactive process of exchage of information and opinion among individuals, groups, and institutions.  It involves multiple messages about the nature of risk and other messages, not strictly about risk, that express concerns, opinions, or reactions to risk messages or to legal and institutional arrangements for risk management.” (3)  The article claims that the main barriers to successful risk communication are conflict, lack of coordination among stakeholders, and poor risk communication planning, preparation, resources, skill, and practice.  By being aware of these barriers, I can make sure to do all that I can to avoid them when writing my own risk communication.  

In the New York City’s West Nile Virus Response, the risk communication was handled well for the most part, but there were some aspects that needed improvement.  The response did a good job of increasing the public’s awareness of the risk, including the public in the solution by having the public help eliminate the breeding grounds, and by providing information in a timely and accurate manner (9).  There was information given in a variety of ways that made it easy for everyone to get information.  However, the informative material emphasized what was not being done and what wouldn’t be done instead of what was being done and what would be done.  The negative was stressed more than the positive.  The material was also written at a level that was too high for a majority of the audience. 

The article, Constraints to Effective Risk Communication, was very informative about some of the possible constraints that I will encounter when writing my risk communication project.  One area of possible constraint could come from management hostility.  The article claims that management might not support risk communication if they felt threatened, or felt endangered by lack of control of the situation.  In the case of obesity, management might be opposed to the idea of communicating the risk due to the cost of the possible solutions.  The possible solutions to decreasing obesity would include cheap gym membership, increased availability of healthy foods, education in healthy living, and making a stand against the fast food industry.  All of these options would have a substantial monetary cost associated with implementing them.  This problem then leads to the problem of who is to be held responsible for taking these drastic steps and who should be held responsible for covering the costs.

 Another constraint that I might face has to do with emotional constraints, more specifically, with the inability to see differing value systems.  What I see as extremely dangerous, others might not be so concerned about.  With obesity, there are people who are completely content with being obese or overweight, even with the associated health risks.  There are even blogs for fat people that preach that you should accept your body the way it is and move on with your life.  By trying to educate and persuade people to take steps to lose weight, I might encounter hostility because some people are perfectly happy the way they are. 

The article A Diagnostic for Risk Communication Failures by Fischoff had some points that applied to my risk communication topic.  The article emphasizes the difference between risks worth worrying about and risks worth forgetting about.  The example the article gave was about how people will have a stronger reaction against possible risk associated with dioxins, even though there was no significant evidence suggesting any illnesses or deaths associated with the dioxins, while the public has no problem smoking or driving cars, which both show significant risks.  People are more frightened to become ill or die in certain ways, as from dioxins, which they have less likelyhood of doing so than from something that a majority of people do on a daily basis, as in driving a car.  I could apply this concept to my risk communication project.  People are aware that obesity is bad and that the risks associated with obesity are fatal and debilitating, but still, not many people are moved to change their lifestyle.  By learning the public’s most feared outcome caused by obesity and emphasizing it in my project, it might lead to a more effective communication in that more people will feel the need to do something to better their health. 

The second article, Ethical Issues, was very interesting.  It emphasized the ethical issue of who determines what a risk is and to whom the risk should be communicated to.  It also related the fact that over the past few years, the public has shown a greater interest in risk communication in that people no longer just want to be told of the risk after the fact, but now want to be involved with the decision on how to handle the risk.  I think that this intense interest from the public will force organizations to communicate risk much earlier than in the past and it will force organizations to be much more accountable for their actions.

Ethics:  I took away from the article that ethics is the obligations someone feels to share information that could prevent harm from coming to others.  In thinking about addressing your audience questions such as:  what is the information the audience should know?  how much information do you need to tell the audience to effectively communicate the risk without giving impertinant information?  how do you tell the audience?  what methods do you use? 

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I decided to focus my research on the problem with obesity.  I would get my statistical information from the National Center for Health Statistics.  In comparing the United States problem with obesity with other countries I would use the International Journal of Obesity and World Health Organization.  The US Department of Health and Human Services and the FDA would be my sources for government efforts in the fight against obesity.  The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would give information regarding the health problems caused by obesity along with the major causes of obesity. 

Rebecca Fetzer

K-W-H-L Statement

Obesity

K:  Obesity is a problem that continues to grow in the
United States.  Most everyone now recognizes obesity as a problem.  Many health issues have been proven to be associated with or caused by obesity.  The advantages of living a healthy lifestyle and obtaining and maintaining a healthy weight have been brought to the attention of the general public. There have been many news and magazine articles that cover this issue and outline the possible consequences of obesity.  However, there seems to be little reaction from the public in an effort to move towards a healthier life.  The number of people affected by obesity continues to grow, especially among children. 

W:  I would want to know the exact numbers of both adults and children in the United States that are obese.  I would want to compare this number to the past rates of obesity in the
United States and also to rates of obesity in other countries.  I would research all of the consequences on a person due to obesity.  Also, researching what is the main cause of obesity is important because this might be important information that the public would want to know. 

H:  I would search health articles and medical sites, such as webMD for information on health problems caused by obesity.  For statistics on obesity in the
United States and other countries the information would be obtained through government census data and health insurance data.  I would search the government websites for past and present acts that have either hindered or helped spread the awareness of the problem of obesity. 

L:  I have learned that I do not really know where to find the kind of information that I want for this project.

Oil Prices:

K: 
America is extremely dependent upon oil as a fuel source for a number of things.  Recently the prices of oil have gone up immensely and continue to rise.  The supply of oil is also decreasing at an alarming rate, with a shortage of oil in the future.  Other fuel options have been tried, but none have been found that could truly replace oil.  Americans are not willing to give up the luxuries, such as cars, that use up a great amount of this resource, so some other alternative is going to be needed soon in order for this country to operate.    

W:  I would want show the trend of increasing oil prices of the past years.  The actual information on how much oil is left and how long that is predicted to last would also be important.  Also, looking into how other countries are handling the oil dilemma would be helpful in determining how well the
United States is handling the situation.  Showing how an oil shortage would affect the average person would also be helpful in gaining the interest of the audience.  

H:  I would use the OPEC site in order to find most of the information on oil prices and amounts of oil left.   Recent articles in the news would give information on what alternate energy sources are being tried and which ones have failed. 

L:  I have learned that there is a lot of information that can be researched.  Also, an oil shortage might have more of an impact on everyday life than I first realized.

1.)  Obesity - This is a growing problem that is affecting more and more people.  Also, there are an increasing number of health issues that are associated with obesity.

2.)  Rising costs of oil - As the prices of oil keep rising and the supply of oil keeps decreasing other options will need to be explored. 

3.)  Social Security - It is predicted that social security will begin to run out sometime in the near future, which will leave our generation to suffer the concequences.