Health Equity and Podcasting
摘要
Podcasting allows healthcare professionals to communicate curated, evidence-based health information directly with a broad audience and has the potential to reach those with limited access to health information. Traditional means of public health communication, such as health fairs, books or articles, or radio and TV show appearances, are mediated by editors, producers and media companies and are limited to a small subset of expert health professionals. These more conventional health information outlets traditionally operate in the culturally dominant language, through one socio-cultural perspective, and rely on an audience’s ability to attend health fairs, purchase books, access and read published work, and watch or listen to shows that air during work hours. Medical information podcasts help overcome health information inequities by addressing access, availability, language, and health literacy challenges in health communication. Podcasts can also amplify marginalized voices and help to advocate for and destigmatize health issues that traditional media may not be equipped to address. Just as medical professionals should consider health equity concerns with any clinical health innovation, podcast creators can approach their podcast creation and dissemination with a health equity lens to ensure that their content addresses and does not further exacerbate existing health inequities. In this chapter, we will discuss why considering health equity is essential in creating new health technology, discuss frameworks for health equity considerations when developing and disseminating a health information podcasts, and how podcasting addresses existing health equity challenges in health communication.