Selected Podcast
How Health Care Marketers Can Impact Stigma
Stigma in healthcare often prevents patients from getting the care that they need. Healthcare marketers can positively or negatively impact this stigma through their work depending on the language, visuals and tone they use. Hear from experts at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and the American Lung Association about how they are smashing stigma in addiction and mental health as well as smoking related lung disease.
Featured Speakers:
Daniel Jason is the National Director, Marketing & Communications at American Lung Association.
Melissa Fors | Daniel Jason
Melissa Fors joined Hazelden Betty Ford in 2013 where she leads the strategic marketing functions, which includes brand strategy, digital strategy, thought leadership, marketing operations and customer relationship management. In 2019 Melissa was named Nonprofit Marketer of the Year by the American Marketing Association. The award, which recognizes one national nonprofit marketer annually for extraordinary leadership and achievement, is the highest honor bestowed on nonprofit marketing professionals by the AMA and its Foundation. In 2020, Melissa was the recipient of the Women's Health Leadership TRUST Award. Melissa works to advance nonprofit and healthcare marketing by serving on the Education and Editorial Advisory Board for the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development, speaking at industry conferences, and writing for industry publications.Daniel Jason is the National Director, Marketing & Communications at American Lung Association.
Transcription:
How Health Care Marketers Can Impact Stigma
Bill Klaproth (host): This is a special podcast produced onsite at SHSMD Connections 2022 Annual Conference as we talk with keynote speakers and session leaders direct from the show floor. I'm Bill Klaproth. With me is Melissa Fors-Shackleford, Vice President of Marketing and Strategy at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. Melissa, welcome.
Melissa Fors Shackelford: Thank you, Bill. Glad to be here.
Bill Klaproth (host): Oh, it's great to have you here. And Daniel Jason, National Director of Marketing and Communications at the American Lung Association. Daniel, thank you for being here.
Daniel Jason: Thank you, Bill. Happy to be here.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, this is really an interesting topic. One that I don't know that I've ever done before. We're going to talk about stigma in healthcare. So Daniel, let me start with you. As we talk about how healthcare marketers can impact stigma, tell me about stigma in healthcare and how that does impact patient's health.
Daniel Jason: Yeah. So I think we know that across the spectrum, that stigma really does have a negative impact on not only patient outcomes, but patient care as well. In my sphere, my sector, we know, unfortunately, that there is a long perpetuated stigma around lung cancer. We know that folks who, for instance, may not have smoked, are subjected to a really challenging difficult stigma that sometimes prevents them from seeking care. It does hurt their outcomes. And it also hurts community engagement for them. These are folks who sometimes are looking for the right sort of support. They are joining local cancer organizations and they may be asked a question like, "Did you smoke?" And, you know, starting the conversation with such a stigmatizing question, often just puts them off on the wrong foot. It makes it challenging for them to feel like they're a part of a community. So what we are really trying to do at the Lung Association is fight that stigma and make sure that folks know that anyone can get lung cancer and no one deserves it.
Bill Klaproth (host): Daniel, it almost sounds like they're fighting two things. One, they're worried about their health, they're fighting that. But then they've got to fight the perception, the negative perception of what they have as well, especially when it comes to lung cancer, is that right?
Daniel Jason: Yeah, that's exactly right. And we know unfortunately that some of these negative perceptions come from the low survival rate which has historically really impacted the ability for more folks to hear survivor stories, for instance. So what we try and do through all of our outreach, our marketing is to tell those stories and really celebrate them. We want to make sure that folks know that, you know, the survival rate for instance has increased by 33 in the past 10 years and there is real progress. And unfortunately, there is still a long way to go in the public's perception of the disease, but we know that the efforts that we're undertaking really have made an impact.
Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. So when you talk about that, and what Daniel was just saying, Melissa, how can we as healthcare marketers impact that? How can we reduce those stigmas surrounding certain conditions and diseases?
Melissa Fors Shackelford: Yeah. And we know there are so many conditions that are so stigmatized in healthcare. Like Dan mentioned, lung cancer. Of course, I work in substance use disorder and mental health, obesity, HIV/AIDS, there's just a long list of those. But healthcare marketers can be part of the solution. So we can do things like very simple, using positive imagery versus reinforcing negative stereotypes. We can use person-centered language, which really separates the person from their disease. So for example, not saying, "He's an addict," "He's an alcoholic," "He's a schizophrenic," "She's an anorexic." I can separate them from their disease and say, "She has anorexia," "He has substance use disorder," or "He has schizophrenia." It's separating the person from their disease, because they're not a bad person, they have a health condition.
Bill Klaproth (host): They're not the disease.
Melissa Fors Shackelford: Yep. Absolutely. It's subtle, but it's a way for us to do that in language. Another thing we can do Is to not use so much negative language that maybe connotates pity, like "You're suffering from a disease," "You're afflicted with a disease." Instead, we can say, "You were diagnosed with the disease," "You have a disease." Same thing with "catching a disease." That again implies something very negative. So, "You were diagnosed with this disease." It's just a little bit different spin. But as healthcare marketers, it's subtle. It's making the folks that we need to speak to, the prospective patients and their families, understand they're not bad people. They have this disease and there's life-saving care available to them that they're just not reaching out for because of stigma.
Bill Klaproth (host): They must appreciate it when someone understands this and talks to them that way, and doesn't use these words, suffering, afflicted, catching. That's got to make them feel good when someone like you or marketers in general recognizes that, is that right?
Melissa Fors Shackelford: Absolutely. What we're trying to do is make it easier for them to get the care that they need. And it's so hard. With many of these conditions, the family suffer in silence because they're afraid to reach out. They're not using their support system. They're not talking to their neighbors about these conditions. What did you do when you had a mental health condition? What did you do when you had HIV/AIDS? They're not having those conversations with their regular support group that they would if they had a non-stigmatized condition.
Bill Klaproth (host): I feel like this is really an important conversation. Maybe many people know this, but I would think probably there's a good portion that doesn't about the stigmas and how we as marketers can certainly impact that in a positive way. So this is really an important conversation. So Melissa, can you share what you've done at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation with us as far as trying to change, you know, our marketing impact on people that have stigmatizing conditions or diseases?
Melissa Fors Shackelford: And we live in the substance use disorder and mental health arena. Very stigmatized. Families still feel a lot of shame. They still suffer in silence. It's something they still sort of whisper about on the side. So one of the things that we've done in our entire industry is move away from a very negative term called substance abuse. It's very judgemental. It's very negative. It implies that you're abusing the substances versus it's a disease. We're trying to shift the language to substance use disorder, because it is a disease. So it's very subtle, but it's something that we're trying to shift the conversation to.
Also, like I mentioned before, the person-centered language saying, "He has addiction," "He has substance use disorder," "He has a mental health condition" versus the opposite of what you typically see, which is very stigmatizing and very negative.
The other thing that we do a lot of is rather than focusing on with our imagery in marketing, very negative, someone using drugs, someone overdosing, someone drinking alcohol. We try to use the sort of after imagery. And that's when someone is thriving, their family is happy, they've gotten the life-saving care that they need. And that's what we're trying to show to our audience. There's hope, there's healing available to you, to let them see that's what they could do if they reach out for the life-saving care that they need.
Bill Klaproth (host): Instead of the drunk person with the empty bottles collapsed on the floor imagery.
Melissa Fors Shackelford: Exactly. You see a lot of that. And for people in recovery or people who are struggling, that can be very triggering as well. So you see a lot of that drug use, alcohol use in a lot of imagery when they talk about substance use disorder, but it can be very triggering for those in our audience, and so we try to be careful about that as well.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing that. And Daniel, certainly lung cancer, as you were talking about, talk about stigma. "Oh, he must or she must have been a smoker that they have lung cancer," when somebody that's never smoked a cigarette in their life can get lung cancer. So tell us, what have you done at the American Lung Association to try to de-stigmatize lung cancer and lung disease?
Daniel Jason: Yeah, that's a great question, Bill. And so, the focus of our presentation was really on our Saved by the Scan Campaign yesterday. So this campaign kind of takes the, you know, fact that folks, even if you did smoke 20 or 30 years, there is hope and there is a life-saving test available for the disease. So lung cancer screening, of course, is relatively new compared to, you know, prostate cancer screenings, mammograms. But we want folks who smoked to understand that there is this test available. If they are eligible, they can speak with their doctor about it. And if they do get scanned for lung cancer, the chance of surviving five years increases to 60% if they are found and have surgery early. So it's very important to make sure that folks know that, even if they quit smoking, this is something to celebrate and there is a next step to take. So, we know that confronting that stigma head on has had a really strong impact. We've had over three quarters of a million people take our eligibility quiz, and almost 27% of those who took the quiz were found to be eligible. So we're seeing really strong readouts from that campaign and we're very hopeful that it will continue to save lives.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, I was just going to say, you've got to feel good in reorganizing the way you speak about lung cancer and putting campaigns together. You're saving lives. People are going to go get scanned now who might've thought, "I'm not going to do this," now they will. So final thoughts from both of you on stigma in healthcare and what we can do to battle that. Daniel, let me start with you.
Daniel Jason: Yeah, I think it was just so inspiring this week to kind of see how, as Melissa said, this is such a through line for the healthcare industry. We have this challenge that we need to address, and whether it is diabetes, heart disease, lung cancer, these are all things that affect, you know, millions of people across the country and approaching things from a person-centered language standpoint is important. Doing our best to use language that is respectful to everyone is so important. And I'm just thrilled to have had the chance to be a part of that conversation.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, Daniel, thank you so much. And Melissa, final thoughts from you on stigma in healthcare and what we can do to combat that.
Melissa Fors Shackelford: I think we've come a long way with stigma in many conditions, but it's still out there. And all of us as healthcare marketers can make an impact. It's subtle. It's really subtle. But what our job is to do, is to bring healthcare to those that need it. It's to bring that lie-saving treatment no matter what their condition is. And if we can bring more empathy into our work, then we really are understanding the struggles that these families are going through. And they need us, and so we need to open the door to them.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. Great, great point. Having more empathy in that. Well, Melissa, thank you for being here. I appreciate it.
Melissa Fors Shackelford: Thanks for having me.
Bill Klaproth (host): And Daniel, thank you so much for being here as well.
Daniel Jason: Thank you, Bill. Appreciate it.
Bill Klaproth (host): And make sure you sign up for this year's SHSMD Virtual Conference, October 12th, 2022 plus on-demand through the end of the year. The virtual conference will feature access to 50 plus sessions recorded from the September in-person annual conference plus all new live sessions. Just go to shsmd.org. That's shsmd.org/virtual to learn more and to get registered. And please join us at the SHSMD Connections Annual Conference September 2023 in Chicago. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and find access to our full podcast library at shsmd.org/podcasts. I'm Bill Klaproth. As always, thanks for listening.
How Health Care Marketers Can Impact Stigma
Bill Klaproth (host): This is a special podcast produced onsite at SHSMD Connections 2022 Annual Conference as we talk with keynote speakers and session leaders direct from the show floor. I'm Bill Klaproth. With me is Melissa Fors-Shackleford, Vice President of Marketing and Strategy at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. Melissa, welcome.
Melissa Fors Shackelford: Thank you, Bill. Glad to be here.
Bill Klaproth (host): Oh, it's great to have you here. And Daniel Jason, National Director of Marketing and Communications at the American Lung Association. Daniel, thank you for being here.
Daniel Jason: Thank you, Bill. Happy to be here.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, this is really an interesting topic. One that I don't know that I've ever done before. We're going to talk about stigma in healthcare. So Daniel, let me start with you. As we talk about how healthcare marketers can impact stigma, tell me about stigma in healthcare and how that does impact patient's health.
Daniel Jason: Yeah. So I think we know that across the spectrum, that stigma really does have a negative impact on not only patient outcomes, but patient care as well. In my sphere, my sector, we know, unfortunately, that there is a long perpetuated stigma around lung cancer. We know that folks who, for instance, may not have smoked, are subjected to a really challenging difficult stigma that sometimes prevents them from seeking care. It does hurt their outcomes. And it also hurts community engagement for them. These are folks who sometimes are looking for the right sort of support. They are joining local cancer organizations and they may be asked a question like, "Did you smoke?" And, you know, starting the conversation with such a stigmatizing question, often just puts them off on the wrong foot. It makes it challenging for them to feel like they're a part of a community. So what we are really trying to do at the Lung Association is fight that stigma and make sure that folks know that anyone can get lung cancer and no one deserves it.
Bill Klaproth (host): Daniel, it almost sounds like they're fighting two things. One, they're worried about their health, they're fighting that. But then they've got to fight the perception, the negative perception of what they have as well, especially when it comes to lung cancer, is that right?
Daniel Jason: Yeah, that's exactly right. And we know unfortunately that some of these negative perceptions come from the low survival rate which has historically really impacted the ability for more folks to hear survivor stories, for instance. So what we try and do through all of our outreach, our marketing is to tell those stories and really celebrate them. We want to make sure that folks know that, you know, the survival rate for instance has increased by 33 in the past 10 years and there is real progress. And unfortunately, there is still a long way to go in the public's perception of the disease, but we know that the efforts that we're undertaking really have made an impact.
Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. So when you talk about that, and what Daniel was just saying, Melissa, how can we as healthcare marketers impact that? How can we reduce those stigmas surrounding certain conditions and diseases?
Melissa Fors Shackelford: Yeah. And we know there are so many conditions that are so stigmatized in healthcare. Like Dan mentioned, lung cancer. Of course, I work in substance use disorder and mental health, obesity, HIV/AIDS, there's just a long list of those. But healthcare marketers can be part of the solution. So we can do things like very simple, using positive imagery versus reinforcing negative stereotypes. We can use person-centered language, which really separates the person from their disease. So for example, not saying, "He's an addict," "He's an alcoholic," "He's a schizophrenic," "She's an anorexic." I can separate them from their disease and say, "She has anorexia," "He has substance use disorder," or "He has schizophrenia." It's separating the person from their disease, because they're not a bad person, they have a health condition.
Bill Klaproth (host): They're not the disease.
Melissa Fors Shackelford: Yep. Absolutely. It's subtle, but it's a way for us to do that in language. Another thing we can do Is to not use so much negative language that maybe connotates pity, like "You're suffering from a disease," "You're afflicted with a disease." Instead, we can say, "You were diagnosed with the disease," "You have a disease." Same thing with "catching a disease." That again implies something very negative. So, "You were diagnosed with this disease." It's just a little bit different spin. But as healthcare marketers, it's subtle. It's making the folks that we need to speak to, the prospective patients and their families, understand they're not bad people. They have this disease and there's life-saving care available to them that they're just not reaching out for because of stigma.
Bill Klaproth (host): They must appreciate it when someone understands this and talks to them that way, and doesn't use these words, suffering, afflicted, catching. That's got to make them feel good when someone like you or marketers in general recognizes that, is that right?
Melissa Fors Shackelford: Absolutely. What we're trying to do is make it easier for them to get the care that they need. And it's so hard. With many of these conditions, the family suffer in silence because they're afraid to reach out. They're not using their support system. They're not talking to their neighbors about these conditions. What did you do when you had a mental health condition? What did you do when you had HIV/AIDS? They're not having those conversations with their regular support group that they would if they had a non-stigmatized condition.
Bill Klaproth (host): I feel like this is really an important conversation. Maybe many people know this, but I would think probably there's a good portion that doesn't about the stigmas and how we as marketers can certainly impact that in a positive way. So this is really an important conversation. So Melissa, can you share what you've done at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation with us as far as trying to change, you know, our marketing impact on people that have stigmatizing conditions or diseases?
Melissa Fors Shackelford: And we live in the substance use disorder and mental health arena. Very stigmatized. Families still feel a lot of shame. They still suffer in silence. It's something they still sort of whisper about on the side. So one of the things that we've done in our entire industry is move away from a very negative term called substance abuse. It's very judgemental. It's very negative. It implies that you're abusing the substances versus it's a disease. We're trying to shift the language to substance use disorder, because it is a disease. So it's very subtle, but it's something that we're trying to shift the conversation to.
Also, like I mentioned before, the person-centered language saying, "He has addiction," "He has substance use disorder," "He has a mental health condition" versus the opposite of what you typically see, which is very stigmatizing and very negative.
The other thing that we do a lot of is rather than focusing on with our imagery in marketing, very negative, someone using drugs, someone overdosing, someone drinking alcohol. We try to use the sort of after imagery. And that's when someone is thriving, their family is happy, they've gotten the life-saving care that they need. And that's what we're trying to show to our audience. There's hope, there's healing available to you, to let them see that's what they could do if they reach out for the life-saving care that they need.
Bill Klaproth (host): Instead of the drunk person with the empty bottles collapsed on the floor imagery.
Melissa Fors Shackelford: Exactly. You see a lot of that. And for people in recovery or people who are struggling, that can be very triggering as well. So you see a lot of that drug use, alcohol use in a lot of imagery when they talk about substance use disorder, but it can be very triggering for those in our audience, and so we try to be careful about that as well.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing that. And Daniel, certainly lung cancer, as you were talking about, talk about stigma. "Oh, he must or she must have been a smoker that they have lung cancer," when somebody that's never smoked a cigarette in their life can get lung cancer. So tell us, what have you done at the American Lung Association to try to de-stigmatize lung cancer and lung disease?
Daniel Jason: Yeah, that's a great question, Bill. And so, the focus of our presentation was really on our Saved by the Scan Campaign yesterday. So this campaign kind of takes the, you know, fact that folks, even if you did smoke 20 or 30 years, there is hope and there is a life-saving test available for the disease. So lung cancer screening, of course, is relatively new compared to, you know, prostate cancer screenings, mammograms. But we want folks who smoked to understand that there is this test available. If they are eligible, they can speak with their doctor about it. And if they do get scanned for lung cancer, the chance of surviving five years increases to 60% if they are found and have surgery early. So it's very important to make sure that folks know that, even if they quit smoking, this is something to celebrate and there is a next step to take. So, we know that confronting that stigma head on has had a really strong impact. We've had over three quarters of a million people take our eligibility quiz, and almost 27% of those who took the quiz were found to be eligible. So we're seeing really strong readouts from that campaign and we're very hopeful that it will continue to save lives.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, I was just going to say, you've got to feel good in reorganizing the way you speak about lung cancer and putting campaigns together. You're saving lives. People are going to go get scanned now who might've thought, "I'm not going to do this," now they will. So final thoughts from both of you on stigma in healthcare and what we can do to battle that. Daniel, let me start with you.
Daniel Jason: Yeah, I think it was just so inspiring this week to kind of see how, as Melissa said, this is such a through line for the healthcare industry. We have this challenge that we need to address, and whether it is diabetes, heart disease, lung cancer, these are all things that affect, you know, millions of people across the country and approaching things from a person-centered language standpoint is important. Doing our best to use language that is respectful to everyone is so important. And I'm just thrilled to have had the chance to be a part of that conversation.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, Daniel, thank you so much. And Melissa, final thoughts from you on stigma in healthcare and what we can do to combat that.
Melissa Fors Shackelford: I think we've come a long way with stigma in many conditions, but it's still out there. And all of us as healthcare marketers can make an impact. It's subtle. It's really subtle. But what our job is to do, is to bring healthcare to those that need it. It's to bring that lie-saving treatment no matter what their condition is. And if we can bring more empathy into our work, then we really are understanding the struggles that these families are going through. And they need us, and so we need to open the door to them.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. Great, great point. Having more empathy in that. Well, Melissa, thank you for being here. I appreciate it.
Melissa Fors Shackelford: Thanks for having me.
Bill Klaproth (host): And Daniel, thank you so much for being here as well.
Daniel Jason: Thank you, Bill. Appreciate it.
Bill Klaproth (host): And make sure you sign up for this year's SHSMD Virtual Conference, October 12th, 2022 plus on-demand through the end of the year. The virtual conference will feature access to 50 plus sessions recorded from the September in-person annual conference plus all new live sessions. Just go to shsmd.org. That's shsmd.org/virtual to learn more and to get registered. And please join us at the SHSMD Connections Annual Conference September 2023 in Chicago. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and find access to our full podcast library at shsmd.org/podcasts. I'm Bill Klaproth. As always, thanks for listening.