Foundational Skills for Communicating About Health

University of Michigan

About this Course

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Effective communication is a core skill that nearly every health professional will need and use during their careers. Yet, few health professionals receive even basic training in how to design communications to be clear and successful. As “foundational skills,” the content in this course can be applied to both oral and written communication, within and beyond health.
Learners will develop the skills to: analyze and tailor a communication effort for different audiences, develop clear messages, create logical and compelling stories, understand and apply important considerations with language as well as nonverbal communication.

This course is valuable and appropriate for both beginning and experienced health professionals who need to communicate effectively with other professionals, patients, policymakers, or the broader public.. Content is relevant to public health professionals, clinicians of all types (medical, nursing, dentists, social work, etc.), health advocates, and scientists and researchers in any health domain..

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Earn a Certificate upon completion

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Flexible deadlines

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Beginner Level

Approx. 14 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: English

What you will learn

Define and collect important information about a target audience in order to make appropriate decisions about the communication effort

Select an audience-appropriate communications goal

Craft a clear, concise core message for a communication effort

Deploy at least two different types of narrative structures to support communications about health topics

Skills you will gain

Health CommunicationStorytellingCommunicationMessagingTailoring communications

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Beginner Level

Approx. 14 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: English

Instructor

Instructor rating

4.92/5 (14 Ratings)

Brian Zikmund-Fisher

Associate Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education, Research Associate Professor of Internal Medicine

School of Public Health

5,479 Learners

2 Courses

Offered by

University of Michigan

The mission of the University of Michigan is to serve the people of Michigan and the world through preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future.

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Week

Week 1

2 hours to complete

Week 1

In Week 1, we will consider how knowing your audience and your specific goals are the critical first steps to designing effective communications.

2 hours to complete

8 videos (Total 51 min), 3 readings, 5 quizzes

8 videos

Fundamental Concepts3m

What can go wrong?7m

Audience and Goals11m

Creating an Audience-Goal Worksheet7m

Audience-Goals Example: Community Brochure5m

Audience-Goals Example: Scientific Conference6m

Audience-Goals Example: Advocacy Brief5m

Audience-Goals Example: This Course Segment4m

3 readings

Faculty Introduction and Acknowledgements1m

Help Us Learn More About You!5m

Note about videos1m

5 practice exercises

Introductory Story of Science exercise20m

Audience / Goals Practice: Public Meeting10m

Audience / Goals Practice: Genetic Test Report10m

Audience / Goals Practice: Annual Clinic Report10m

Audience / Goals Practice: Airport Poster10m

Week

Week 2

3 hours to complete

Week 2

In Week 2, we will focus on developing clear takeaway messages so that communications can achieve their objectives.

3 hours to complete

6 videos (Total 40 min), 2 readings, 8 quizzes

6 videos

The Importance of Message Prioritization6m

What makes a good Central Message?7m

Idea Space3m

Inverted Triangle7m

Inverted Triangle Examples11m

Inverted Triangle Useful Structure4m

2 readings

Half-Life Your Message Activity Instructions10m

A Note About The Next Set Of Items1m

8 practice exercises

Half-Life Your Message Reflection15m

Create a Central Message30m

How many points in a paragraph (1)5m

How many points in a paragraph (2)5m

How many points in a paragraph (3)5m

Critique / rewrite paragraphs10m

Evaluate summary using rubric (1)10m

Evaluate summary using rubric (2)10m

Week

Week 3

2 hours to complete

Week 3

This week, we focus on using plain language to avoid jargon, and continue to practice finding a clear central message.

2 hours to complete

4 videos (Total 31 min)

4 videos

Central Messages in Data Graphics10m

Active vs. Passive Voice6m

Tools and Sites for Plain Language8m

Dejargonizer video5m

2 practice exercises

Passive voice to active voice10m

Replacing jargon in sentences20m

Week

Week 4

4 hours to complete

Week 4

In Week 4, we will learn how to use narrative forms to tell the story of science and how to think about the larger macro-structures of messages, especially when your message is designed to advocate for your central point.

4 hours to complete

13 videos (Total 56 min), 3 readings, 3 quizzes

13 videos

Power of Stories4m

The Link Between Messaging and Narrative3m

Health Sciences & Management Can be Stories4m

ABT (And, But, Therefore)7m

ABT in Science Stories6m

Other Examples of ABT3m

ABT X 24m

The Findings ABT2m

Post-Interview debrief Dr. Skip Lupia4m

One-pager Briefs4m

Advocacy Examples: Inverted Triangles + ABT3m

Advocacy Example: Repeated Inverted Triangle4m

Macro- vs. Micro-Message Structures1m

3 readings

External Video (10 min): Communicating to Policymakers10m

Letter to EPA: CPP Replacement10m

Letter to EPA: Toxic Substance Control Act10m

2 practice exercises

Evaluate ABT x 2 examples20m

Create ABT x 2 from provided research paper45m

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Foundational Skills for Communicating About Health

Foundational Skills for Communicating About Health