After the COVID-19 pandemic, the general public appetite and expectation for statistics has obviously grown, as has their access to open information, but still the news media remains the first, and sometimes only, source in which the public will seek and retrieve health risk information. The Canadian Health Information Management Association has recently set a mandate for strengthening population health and data literacy. As a HIM member of CHIMA (and epi / information scientist), I would suggest reaching out to Jeff Nesbitt, CEO at CHIMA to help advance the discussion - he is very passionate about the new data literacy agenda for the public. Health and data literacy also emerged as a key pillar in expert discussions of the Pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy, which includes CHIMA and many other stakeholders, but I do not remember a great deal on journalism (if my memory stands correct). 

One concern - we should not assume the public understands the difference between these concepts - relative and absolute risk. 

I have noticed that journalists have been doing a better job of describing CIs with risk estimates, although the way that CIs are commonly described to audiences, they may not even know the CI is what is being reported. As a result, when they seek/retrieve follow-up information, research and data from other sources, they do not always know what statistics to look for and how to interpret them. I fear that a similar stripping of terminology could happen here with absolute and relative risk. So, while I agree the news media should use plain language to explain these concepts, they should also use the appropriate language to familiarize the public with the common terminology, which helps them navigate other information spaces and dialogues. 

The goals of the news media may also be misaligned, an ethical argument should be presented for the unintended harms that can come about from presenting some but not all of the pertinent statistical information.  

News media can make use of resources from reliable sources like the following to support general audiences, perhaps as recommended supplemental resources:

NCCMT - URE - What’s the Risk? Understanding Absolute and Relative Risk Reduction
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QPXXTE8N4PY

Ramona Kyabaggu



Sent from my Galaxy



-------- Original message --------
From: Dennis Raphael <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 2023-02-18 12:05 p.m. (GMT-06:00)
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SDOH] Fw: Ethics in journalism?


>>> "Dennis Raphael" <[log in to unmask]> 02/18/2023 12:05 >>>



Have you seen this critique of the report?

http://www.alcoholresearchforum.org/critique-261/


Dan Malleck
Professor, Department of Health Sciences
Director,  Centre for Canadian Studies
Brock University
Sent from my iPhone, which means messages may be terse and brevity may be misconstrued. 

On Feb 18, 2023, at 12:38, Dennis Raphael <[log in to unmask]> wrote:



 

The CBC should require that health reporters provide both relative and absolute risk when presenting the latest health reports. The one that comes to mind is the moderate alcohol drinking and mortality relationship from breast cancer, where the relative risk increase is 10% but absolute increase is .28 Percent.  From 2.8% to 3.08%.

The CBC paraded women on TV with breast cancer, who were blaming themselves for their breast cancer because of their moderate drinking.

 

 

Get a free copy of Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts, 2nd edition at http://thecanadianfacts.org

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Dennis Raphael, PhD
Professor of Health Policy and Management
York University
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Of interest:

The Politics of Health in the Canadian Welfare State

https://canadianscholars.ca/book/the-politics-of-health-in-the-canadian-welfare-state/

 

Poverty in Canada, 3rd edition,
Forewords by Cathy Crowe, Rob Ranier and Jack Layton

 

Staying Alive: Critical Perspectives on Health, Illness, and Health Care, 3rd edition
Foreword by Gary Teeple
https://canadianscholars.ca/book/staying-alive/

 

Social Determinants of Health: Canadian Perspectives, 3rd edition
Forewords by Michael Butler and Maude Barlow, Carolyn Bennett and Roy Romanow
https://canadianscholars.ca/book/social-determinants-of-health-3rd-edition/

Immigration, Public Policy, and Health: Newcomer Experiences in Developed Nations
https://canadianscholars.ca/book/immigration-public-policy-and-health/

About Canada: Health and Illness, 2nd edition
https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/about-canada-health-and-illness

Tackling Health Inequalities: Lessons from International Experiences
Foreword by Alex Scott-Samuel
https://canadianscholars.ca/book/tackling-health-inequalities/

Health Promotion and Quality of Life in Canada: Essential Readings

https://canadianscholars.ca/book/health-promotion-and-quality-of-life-in-canada/

See a presentation! The Political Economy of Health Inequalities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NCTYqAub8g

Also, presentation at the University of Toronto on how Canada stacks up again other nations in providing citizens with economic and social security.
http://vimeo.com/33346501

See what Jack Layton had to say about my books!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/04/10/cv-election-ndp-layton-platform.html
at 27:20

 

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