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Communications Breakdown: What Works (and Doesn't) in Health and Science Communication
Communications Breakdown is a new podcast that breaks down what works (and doesn't) in health and science communication. Hosted by Tracy Mehan and Katrina Boylan, this podcast brings you into their world of research translation, health promotion, public health communications strategy, website and social media management, graphic design, and much more.
Communications Breakdown: What Works (and Doesn't) in Health and Science Communication
Lessons from the Next Generation Part 3: Creativity and Dissemination Planning
What happens when classroom theory meets real-world health communication? Our three-part series concludes with a deep dive into the perspectives of emerging professionals as they navigate the transition from academic training to practical application in health communication.
We explore how creativity, feedback, and real-world practice shape the future of health communication. From graphic design and Canva challenges to the value of iterative feedback, we hear from the next generation of public health professionals what surprised them most about the field and what it really takes to move from creating materials do getting them out into the world.
We wrap up with big-picture takeaways about accessibility, dissemination, and why health communication can (and should) be a space for creativity and fun.
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This podcast is a project of the Center for Injury Research Translation and Communication (CIRTC). Connect with CIRTC: www.cirtc.org
Find CIRTC on LinkedIn, Bluesky, and YouTube.
Note: all thoughts and opinions shared in this podcast are personal and not representative of any organization.
Hey, there, it's Katrina from Communications Breakdown, and this is the final part of our three-part series on the state of health communication as seen through the eyes of future young professionals who are looking to be successful as they join the workforce. If you are starting here, we introduce the students and provide a little more background information in that first episode, so do go back and listen to that if you haven't, and then also, you can check out the second episode, which covers things like word choice and language, using data for storytelling, and then a little bit on Canva skills. For now, though, we're going to dive in where we left off, which was talking about graphic design.
Katrina:Okay, well, let's then again. Let's move, then, to speaking of kind of graphic design here. Let's move to the next question, which is kind of an open-ended one. It's what did you enjoy about the Health comm work or the things that you did in this internship? And again, I like to hear this, because you never know what's going to resonate with different students. You know there are some things that emerge, but every student is different, and so let's listen.
Yara:Just making carousels for the health campaigns. Honestly, that was my favorite part and I'm so happy I was doing so much of that and the biggest thing for me was hearing honest feedback about it. I was not really getting that in my like in my classes or in my past internship. Sure, it was just like I'm turning something in and then what gets posted is like completely different. So hearing that feedback on my work and having the team include me in like literally every step and every edit just made my heart full.
Juliette:I feel part of the work I did. I did really like working on the button battery toolkit I did, as well as the playground safety. I think those like in my head, those kind of go together Like they're the same type of kind of graphic, like one is more storytelling with the button batteries and then the other is more just, well, here are the things you should do in like image. I actually really enjoyed when I had my capstone poster session. A lot of people came up to me and were actually asking me about the playground safety graphic I made and kind of talking about how it was really interesting, how they thought, well, not only is it really important, but they also thought, especially when I was talking about how something I learned with this internship is you know, canva does have a good amount of options for things, but a lot of times it doesn't, so you have to make your own things, and so it's kind of cool to say, oh yeah, and I actually made this part of it, you know, with a bunch of rectangles or whatever it was, because Canva didn't have it, and I think that was kind of a part that I didn't mention before. That I really liked is the creativity of it.
Juliette:I think then I'm a very creative person. I think sometimes in public health, yes, you can be creative, but not not always. And I think also creativity within public health is a little like different than like creativity in different way that. And so I think it was really interesting because also, like again, like with my other experiences, I haven't really been able to get super creative and it's disappointing sometimes because I think in my own, like personal interest I'm more creative, but then in the work I do it's not always. I think that kind of showed me like the ways you can be creative in public health and also like specifically in health communication and stuff.
Tracy:So there's two things that really got highlighted in those comments for me. The first is this you know they're not getting the training on graphic design and social media posts and kind of rolled up with that as the iterative feedback idea came up again. They really just want more feedback. In school they get the grade, but they loved being a part of the process and the way we do it is different from some. I think you do a really nice job of assigning them a project and you give them some guidelines, but then you really let them do the work and, honestly, in most cases or I should, maybe not most many cases the first draft isn't always so great, but you have the patience and you take time with them and you give them feedback on it, but then you let them go back and try another version and you keep doing that until we end up with something that we can actually use. You don't make the changes for them unless you really need to show them what you mean, but you let them keep doing it on their own, and that's the best type of learning.
Katrina:I totally agree.
Katrina:What I think is missing in many cases as we've touched on several times in the classroom experience is that kind of one-and-done issue, is that they don't get to build on it, because mistakes are where we learn the most, and it's not a mistake if you don't know and I will say you know, as somebody who works with the students a lot if somebody listening is considering taking on students.
Katrina:One thing to remember is they are all coming in with, you know, different levels of experience, and so being able to identify where they are and the support that they need in order to feel successful is important.
Katrina:One of the things that we do is we have a how I want to be coached document that every single intern fills out for us so that we can understand how do they take feedback, because I will say, sometimes, you know it is we have to go several rounds, and that can be a little demoralizing, for we get a lot of kind of type A, you know A students who want to do well, and so it's just, I think, for Yara and many of these students, you know again, they want to learn, and so there is a level of expectation that both you have to say, hey, we're going to use this, and so you need to work up to expectation, but also meeting them where they are and giving them what they need to get to where they need to go.
Katrina:That is something I will say has been developed over time. I didn't know how to do this 10 years ago when I started, and so for anybody who might be, you know, just starting out with students, you know, remember that you've got a lot to learn too. We learn just as much from our students as they do from us. Recognizing both what they need to be successful, but also what you need in order for this work to be useful for you. You know you've got to strike that balance.
Tracy:Yeah, and I think social media actually is a great example of this. Sometimes there's this perception oh well, they're young and they use social media all the time, they know how to do it. We're just going to give it to them and they know how to consume it, and sometimes they know how to produce it. But most of the time, what we hear is oh, I haven't really thought about how to create social media stories and messages that will change behavior, so we teach them that side, but they always bring us the energy and the new ideas. Oh, on TikTok, there's this trend. We should do this, or that's not how it's done on Instagram. If you want to reach this audience, you've got to talk in this way or do the video production in this post in this kind of way. Right, and so we can still learn from them while still also teaching them.
Katrina:Yeah, and I think the other thing and this is maybe moving into what Juliette said a little bit and I'll give you, I think, the opportunity to respond there but I also think it's knowing how to allow them to bring a fresh perspective while still staying within your brand, your objectives.
Katrina:You know making things be what you need, and so I love giving them some space to experiment. But also, at the end of the day, this does go out and there are brand guidelines and there are there's voice and there's things to consider. So how do you go from idea to actual posted product? And I love the fact that we can give the students actual posted products. You know these are things that you know these students can point to all the time that are still on our Instagram or on social media somewhere. So I just I think that there is a again going back to that kind of real world stakes that you referred to earlier that I think they really enjoy. They actually really love seeing their work go out and being used in the world.
Tracy:Yeah, I really like that. She brought up this concept of creativity and public health as well. Yeah, I talk to interns that we work with, but also students at schools around the United States and, honestly, they're often surprised that there is a job like health communications out there. A lot of times they don't realize this is a field and I'm the first one that they're hearing talk to them about it, what it looks like to do this work, and it's a whole different way of looking at the field and it's a different way to bring creativity in. You know, you and I have joked throughout the years.
Tracy:Our team is very different from all the other teams where we work. They're all research teams who are epidemiologists, who have structure and have a certain way of looking at things, and we bring coloring books into our meetings and we make sock puppets as activities Right, we get to bring creativity into our work and we're in public health and we're also not always on those regimented schedules, right? I mean, how many times have I had to stop because something comes up in the real world, right, right, like the Tide Pod Challenge, you don't plan for kids turning it into a challenge to swallow these dangerous chemical products, right, right. So you've got to stop everything you're doing and respond to that, right. But I love that and I thrive on that and our team thrives on that. And there is this creative side of public health that isn't always embraced, yeah, and so I love that she brought that up because there is a space for it and there's a group of people who are doing that.
Tracy:And the communications we create, the visuals we create, the way we say things that's all creativity and I love it.
Katrina:Yeah, yeah, well, I even loved the comment about she got interest at her poster session about this, because she actually had something colorful and interesting, you know, it stood out on her poster and I think that, again, that's it's something I hadn't thought about really highlighting before is an opportunity to put those skills to use for, you know, the larger good, right, it's not just designing, you know some little thing. Right, there are reasons we make these choices that we do, and so it's it's creativity with direction, and I think a lot of students don't realize, again, that there's so much space for that. And, honestly, we need people with creative skills because not everybody is comfortable with sock puppets and the things that we are, and that's okay, you know, we do need everybody, but there's got to be space for everybody too. And so, again, I just I hadn't heard it, I thought it was fantastic.
Tracy:Yeah, some of my favorite collaborations that we've had are people that we didn't know had certain skill sets. We had a photographer on staff that we didn't know she did that in her free time, right, and we were able to use her skills. Or we had an intern who came in who was an artist, and some of my favorite graphics that we've ever created were ones that she hand drew and just had such great impact from her art skills. So just a really cool, different way to think about this space, yeah.
Katrina:Okay, so one more question before we wrap up this segment, and that is, I always also ask about whether or not there are any surprises about health communication or this internship in general, because, again, this is the open-endedness of this kind of question tends to give me some insights into how we can be of service to the interns, where the value lies with them, and how we can better you know, kind of work with each other and serve each other.
Katrina:So let's hear what Juliette has to say about this.
Juliette:guess I didn't realize the levels of how many different things are going on, especially in health communication. I feel like, again, like going into. I thought it was going to be mostly like creating a graphic, and I don't even know if I knew where that would be, going, like after you made the graphic, like who you'd be giving it to, where it would be posted, like I really didn't know, and so I think it was interesting and I was surprised. It's like oh, actually there's all these newsletters and that's how they give the information, and there's also all these different websites and these toolkits and all this stuff, and so I think that was surprising to me.
Tracy:I thought it was really interesting that she said she hadn't thought about how to get the information out. Who you'd be giving it to where it'd be going all these newsletters, websites, toolkits She had thought about the idea of creating a graphic to share, but not about how people would find the graphic, and I do think that's a step that is often missed. Yeah, we had an employee once that ended up leaving because she said all this work I'm doing is PR and communications, it's not program management, and she was surprised by that.
Tracy:And we see researchers who will create programs or apps or videos, and they put all this work into talking to their audience and crafting messages and evaluating whether or not they work with the audience, but when it comes time to actually put the product out into the world, they don't know how to do that. They haven't thought about it, and they say that's someone else's job. Right, yeah, but whose job is it actually? And how are people going to know about that awesome thing that you created? That's out there, that's available? Yeah, and I do think some of it is the funding mechanism. So, the way they're set up. Researchers are paid to create these products and prove that they're effective, but they're not paid to take it to the next level. Some of these products and programs never last very long or don't have big uptake, because that dissemination piece, that thinking about how are people going to learn about this, isn't happening.
Katrina:Right. Well I think also for Juliette, what I heard is, this to me goes back to that disconnect between what they do in school vs what an internship provides. Because this is our job, our workplace, we are actually running these programs. She had not put it together yet between what she was learning in school and how it really goes out into the world. What it looks like out in the world. We do have a lot of students where we ask them, you know, picture this on your phone. Where are you consuming this? Where's your audience consuming this? If it's a social media graphic again, I think she was talking about that, but it's probably gonna be on your phone. So if you can see it, just because you can see it, designing it on your computer screen doesn't mean you're going to be able to see it. The pertinent information if you're viewing it on a phone.
Katrina:Another one that we do hear a lot is they don't think about, kind of, what the other things on the channel or the program look like, and so you know what she's, I think, talking about is.
Katrina:You know she can design a graphic, but then how is it used in this larger context of this program's coordinated activity? I'm just thinking about what I worked on with her and just being able to say, okay, you've got a great idea. How do we again adjust this to brand this particular voice, this brand, these colors, these design motifs, things like that? And then, how is this different on Instagram versus a text-based service like an X or a Blue Sky, Threads, things like that, you know? So, as you said, the dissemination piece also changes depending on the not just the audience, but where are they, when they're consuming this, how it's going to be received? What does my audience need to actually engage with our materials? You know, this level of detail. I think kind of. I just don't think that school education can expose all of that the way that we can with these kind of real world stakes.
Tracy:Yeah, I definitely think that's important, for sure, it's why internships and work experiences can really have a big impact. But I'm going to say again, I also think funding is a part of that. I mean, even schools have funding that they're required to meet right. Funding is always tied to developing the programs and evaluating the programs, and there's no funding for that next step of running the program and the implementation. We need that funding.
Tracy:Yeah, still too right, right, and you know, that kind of other piece that I started to talk about before too, is that we teach them how to develop programs, and I think we do a pretty good job of that, but we don't teach them always. How do the participants find out about this when they're not being recruited to be a part of a study? It's that sustainability aspect Great, we can recruit participants to be in this program when we're paying them for evaluation. But the afterwards, what does that look like? And there are skills that you have to learn. You have to know where to find the audience. You have to learn how to sell your program so that they're going to join it. You have to know marketing and PR skills, and this is a part of public health that isn't being taught really in a lot of programs, and I think that's an important gap that's missing right now. Mm-hmm.
Katrina:Yeah, all right, everyone. We've reached the end of our conversation on health communication, as seen through the eyes of some of our recent interns who are heading out into the workforce and looking for ways to set themselves up for success. Now, I know we covered a lot of ground across those three episodes. So, Tracy, what do you think were the main takeaways here?
Tracy:One thing I heard right off the bat was that the students are really struggling with the type of research translation that is needed to talk to the public. Reading a paper so that you can understand it is one thing, but reading it so you can explain the so what to a busy parent is something else altogether, and our students were struggling with that a little bit. I'd love to see students and even early career professionals learn both techniques, and I don't think we're always getting that second one quite right yet. We also talked about how important it is to think about dissemination early in a project. So many researchers don't think about this part until the research is done, and if we want people to truly understand the impact of our research and why it matters, we need to start thinking about how we're going to do that right from the beginning of a project, and we heard from them that that isn't something that they've always been thinking about yet.
Tracy:I also thought the discussion around accessibility and health literacy skills was really important. This is something that I am really passionate about, and I still feel like these topics are often being taught kind of on the edges of public health, and I'd love to see that change, things like alt text and color contrast and appropriate reading levels for the audience you're trying to reach. They're not add-ons, they're things we should be doing with all of our messaging, whatever form that's taking. And then, finally, I absolutely loved their discovery that health communications can be a space for creativity and fun. It's something that we embrace and celebrate on our team and I'd love to see more of this out in the world.
Katrina:Yeah, I totally agree, and I will also add that I think it's critical that we can offer the opportunity to give multiple rounds of feedback on real-world projects.
Katrina:You know the interns talked about how nice it was to have the chance to go back and implement what they've learned from our feedback, instead of just moving on to the next project. You know, like they usually do in school, you know they would write a paper, they would get a grade, but they wouldn't have the chance to go back and actually fix it, and so this was the chance to really develop those skills through iterative feedback. They also got to see you know firsthand what it's like to develop work that's going out in the world and things that will be seen and used by the public and other professionals, and they saw how deep we will go on every single detail, and school just can't replicate that, and so I am just so glad that we can offer that opportunity to them. You know I also just really love the wonderful energy they bring and all of the new ideas, and you know we always learn something from them. So I just I love this program and I think it's a win-win.
Tracy:I absolutely agree. I love working with them. I love their new perspective and what they bring to us as well. I really enjoyed putting together this series and thinking about what we can learn from those that are entering in the field, just as much as what we can teach them.
Katrina:Yep, me too. Before we go, there are two things that you can do. The first is please follow or subscribe to Communications Breakdown wherever you listen to podcasts. Not only will you not miss any new episodes, but it really helps us reach listeners like you and, depending on your platform, you can also like or comment on episodes, and all of that really does help. Secondly, please share this podcast with people you know who might like this content. You know our corner of public health focuses on injury prevention, but communicating about health and science and other complex subjects is a much larger world with lots of moving parts and pieces, and we'd love to find others who are working in these spaces as well.
Tracy:You can also follow CIRTC C-I-R-T-C on LinkedIn, Blue Sky and YouTube. Come to those channels to talk to us, ask us questions, share resources, leave your comments and ideas for future episodes. We really do appreciate hearing from you. Thanks again for listening.
