This research project received funding through the 2024-2025 Institute for Diversity Science Seed Grant Program
Principal Investigator: Lillie Williamson, Department of Communications Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Co-Investigators: Todd Newman, Department of Life Sciences Communication, Mike Xenos, Department of Life Sciences Communication
Abstract:
Research on combating health misinformation has produced numerous insights, but relatively little of this work focuses on the unique dynamics involved in Black American communities, in which historical and ongoing experiences have sown substantial earned mistrust toward medical and public health institutions.
In our current work on Black Wisconsinites’ experiences with science information, our community collaborators have been sharing their concerns and needs around healthcare professionals, health (mis)information, and what sources need to do to be trustworthy in light of earned mistrust, racism, and their lived experiences. Existing research, however, has primarily focused on who should provide information to Black American communities (e.g. trusted community members, doctors of the same race) but has rarely considered what those messages should look like. Thus, work still must be done to understand how to craft messages that successfully reflect community strategies and acknowledge concerns.
Once we know what messages should look like, we then need to determine how to increase acceptance and use of these messages by practitioners, particularly as community collaborators have questioned whether institutions, like medicine, are prepared to take accountability, address their racism, and engage with communities. To date, however, little attention has been paid to how to encourage healthcare professionals to accept and use those message and strategies.
As a result, this project aims to determine a) how to effectively translate community concerns and desires into effective messaging and b) how to encourage acceptance and use of these community-driven, culturally responsive messages. To do so, we will conduct two experimental surveys. The first will test the effectiveness of messages incorporating community-directed engagement strategies among Black Americans. The second will test how to encourage healthcare and public health professionals to incorporate these messages into their own practices.