Harnessing Social Media to Share Science on Breast Cancer and the Environment

Harnessing Social Media to Share Science on Breast Cancer and the Environment

Harnessing Social Media to Share Science on Breast Cancer and the Environment

December 23, 2019

Interviewee: Carla Fisher, Ph.D.

In this podcast, you’ll hear how health communication researchers are improving information and messages about breast cancer online. Plus, you’ll learn how they are teaming with social media influencers to help people understand and reduce their risk.

Harnessing Social Media to Share Science on Breast Cancer and the Environment

Through effective environmental health communication, people may become motivated to reduce, mitigate, or prevent environmental exposures that can lead to poor health. Accuracy in communication is critical to reducing uncertainty and increasing understanding about complex issues. Breast cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. It has both genetic and environmental factors. Many women are concerned about what they can do to reduce their chance of developing breast cancer. But information online may vary in quality or accessibility. In this podcast, you’ll hear how health communication researchers are improving information and messages about breast cancer online. Plus, you’ll learn how they are teaming with social media influencers to help people understand and reduce their risk.

Interviewee

Carla L. Fisher, Ph.D., is part of the University of Florida Health Cancer Center, Population Sciences Core and an associate professor in the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications. She is an Expert Advisory Board Member for the STEM Translational Communication Center, and she leads the Family Health Lifespan Communication Lab.

Fisher has spent more than a decade looking at ways to improve communication to enhance breast cancer coping and reduce disease risk. As part of the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program (BCERP), she and her colleague Kevin Wright, Ph.D., received a grant from NIEHS to research and develop a social media intervention to disseminate information to mothers and daughters about making healthier lifestyle choices to reduce environmental risk factors associated with breast cancer.

Additional Resources

• Read more about Fisher’s work to share information about breast cancer risk on social media.
• Check out Fisher’s research publication on the effectiveness using mommy bloggers to share health messages about breast cancer and prevention tips.
• Read about the history and future of environmental health literacy in a commentary published by NIEHS program officers Symma Finn and Liam O’Fallon.
• Find out more about NIEHS’ focus on environmental health literacy from the Environmental Factor Newsletter.