The New Consumer Health An Overview Dr Pearson

The New Consumer Health – An Overview Dr. Pearson, 2017

Consumer health is. . • Anything health-related that costs money – And remember, health is BROAD • We can consider financial/credit decisions and other things to be part of health too! • Having facts and understanding to make wise decisions • Avoiding decisions based on deception, misinformation, etc • Choosing not to be aliterate

• Ho w a b o u t t i m e? Money makes sense.

And it’s hard to change. Especially when people make money if we keep making the choices we make.

Science can help. But only if we keep doing it. And explaining it.

Sometimes we’re not good at either one. • Words matter - the vaccine issue: – elimination vs. eradication – herd immunity vs. community immunity • Content and structure matters – “transportive” (case) vs. just “informative” (data) – How can you ensure you transport someone (and thus sway them appropriately) but still inform them about the generalizability of the case?

Enter research translation!

Theory as a context and support • Social Ecology • Critical Literacy

Why use theory? • Theory helps explain and predict outcomes – which helps figure out how to change them • Theory is testable – which is a major part of “science” • Theory helps build evidence – which builds credibility

This is good, right? (Quick quiz: fact or theory? )

Except when it’s bad. . .

Take a quiz or two • http: //kff. org/quiz/health-reform-quiz/ • http: //www. thedailybeast. com/articles/201 3/09/30/the-obamacare-quiz-how-dumbare-you. html

What questions should we answer? • What exactly is consumer health? • What is the role of: – information vs. regulation? – belief vs. knowledge? – industry in government & science? – media in what we “know” (& believe)? • Who is likely to be victimized?

One important word: Hegemony • “Spontaneous consent” (or passive/tacit consent) by subordinate groups helps to keep dominant groups dominant. (Strinati, 1995)

An easier way to understand hegemony • “We let things happen, even when they’re not good for us or won’t make us happier. ” • Why? Because we start to believe it’s normal or just the way things work.

It is hegemonic to… • Keep buying what’s sold, when we don’t need it (or perhaps don’t even want it) • Keep buying what’s sold, when it harms other people • Keep buying what’s sold, when it screws up the world • Keep buying what’s sold, without making an effort to know more about it (or about the seller)

More questions. . • The roles of consumer protection agencies, activists, YOU, ME, etc? • How do lack of access, or lack of secure access, to care play into consumer health behaviors and issues?

Low skills vs. low involvement • What does it mean to be health illiterate vs. health aliterate? • Think about a time when you or someone you know has been aliterate regarding a health decision/choice

Low skills and low involvement • How should community and public health professionals deal with each?

Intelligent consumers. . • Get the logic of science, • • why we test scientifically Seek reliable info sources Practice healthy lifestyles Choose care with care Get screened, use self-care, and pro care as needed • Communicate effectively • Are active in their health • Are wary of treatments as • • appropriate Understand the economic aspects of care Report fraud, quackery, etc

Ground Rules for Healthy Consumers • Have knowledge and act on it • There’s a fake (or untested/regulated or needlessly expensive) version for almost all real products/services (and ”now”* we have fake news, right? ) • Be a skeptic – not cynical, not rude, just smart! • Consumer protection agencies can’t fix all • Remember the price of freedom!

Media and Misleading Info • Complexity of info + TONS of it = easy to NOT know what you need to! (or “know” something that ain’t necessarily so) • 4 main functions of mass media: entertain, inform, carry ads, make $ for shareholders – – Will it interest YOU? (reader, listener, viewer) – Will it make advertisers happy? How reliable is info based mainly on those 2 questions?

Quackery • Promotion for the purposes of profit of a false, or unproven, method – Victims may be • Unsuspecting • Desperate • Alienated/antagonistic toward medical profession, etc • Believers in “magic” • Overconfident – I know better than scientists

Probs w/products • May be – Unneeded, ineffective, unsafe – Completely worthless, based on false claims – Overpriced – Sold by multi-level marketing – Vary in quality – Other, better solutions

Probs w/services • Over-prescribing of tests, meds, surgeries • Not up-to-date on research • No focus on prevention • Careless, too little time spent w/patients • Un- or underqualified • Promise too much • Low quality facilities, lack of trained staff

Probs w/cost & access • >18% of GDP by 2013 • $130 billion waste due to overuse • $70 billion due to inefficient administration • “defensive medicine”

What’s our typical response to this type of info (fraud, etc)?

Why does caveat emptor not work anymore?

To consider. . . • help me care: http: //www. dailyclimate. org/tdcnewsroom/2015/01/energy-savings-health-benefits • old uh oh replaced by new uh oh: http: //www. upi. com/Health_News/2015/01/13/Study-BPA-alternativebisphenol-S-may-be-worse/1711421183841/ * Note the bottom line. . • What most of us REALLY want: http: //www. burlingtonfreepress. com/story/news/2015/01/13/poll-appetitelabeling-gmo-foods/21679643/ • Our choices in contrast to others’: http: //www. telegraph. co. uk/news/earth/agriculture/geneticmodification/113 41757/GM-crops-what-it-will-mean-for-you-if-British-farmers-get-greenlight. html

What we’re up against • http: //grist. org/living/this-horror-film-isabout-k-cups/

Alphabet soup at work for US? ! • FDA - http: //www. fda. gov/consumer/updates/approvals 093008. html • FTC - http: //www. ftc. gov/bcp/menus/consumer/health. shtm • Federal Citizen Information Center, http: //publications. usa. gov/USAPubs. php • USPS - http: //postalinspectors. uspis. gov/ • General consumer protection info: • http: //www. usa. gov/topics/consumer. shtml http: //www. consumerfinance. gov/ • CFPB - http: //www. consumerfinance. gov/

And then there are. . . • state attorneys, licensing boards/ laws, accreditation bodies, professional groups, voluntary & consumer groups, and industries themselves

What else?