webinar: january 11, 2012 women and health: reaching health decision makers

Health Decision Makers

Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MPHHealth Communication

Language Matters…

Women’s Health

  Informal providers

Primary decision makers

Medical provider

s

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/women-and-health-initiative

Informal providers

+ Primary Decision Maker

= Caregivers

Caregivers are defined in two ways

1) Narrowly (National Family Caregivers Association)

People who care for loved ones with chronic conditions, disabilities, disease, or the frailtiesof old age. This includes parents of children with special needs. http://caregiveraction.org/about

2) Broadly (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

a person who provides direct care (as for children, elderly people, or the chronically ill)http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/caregiver

Caregivers

Mothers As Caregivers

How Many Mothers are there in the US?

• As of 2008 the estimated number of mothers of children ages 0 to 18 was 85.4 million.

• Around 5 million of these women were stay at home moms.

• 61 percent of mothers were in the workforce in 2008.

Women as Caregivers of Children

Deciding Physician

85% of Moms Decide on Children’sPhysician

Taking to Appoint-ments

84% of Moms take their Children to MD appointments

Follow-up Care

79% assure ChildrenReceive follow-up care

Women As Caregivers of Elderly or DisabledPopulation

Caregivers

More than 66 million Americans

(28.5% of the adult population) provide unpaid care to an elderly or disabled person 18 years or

older

Sixty-six percent of caregivers

are women.

Big numbers

85.4 million American women are mothers

43.56 million American women are family caregivers

20 million are doing both jobs

Of the 155.6 million women in the US as of the 2010 Census

A guesstimate of 2/3 or around 100 million women are caregivers!

 Over

scheduled

9.4 things on their

minds in any given five-

minute period

76% spend more time thinking about others’

needs than their own

81% wish there were more hours in the day to get things done

Two-thirds reported that they have more on their minds than they did five years ago (65%)

73% say they juggle a lot of thoughts

84% say they juggle a lot of tasks

Health of WomenWomen caregivers, compared

with women who are not caregivers, are less likely to:• get medical care

• fill a prescription (because of the cost)

• get a mammogram• get enough sleep

• cook meals• doing physical activity

(http://womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/caregiver-stress.cfm

Today’s CaregiverInformation overload… 80% of household buying decisions…most health decisions… little time for messages… poorer health..decreasing attention span… multi-tasking…

Social

Media

Caring

Work

Home

Time

Helping The Balancing Act

53% of moms say social networks highly influence health and

wellness opinions

66% of women don’t believe health care

marketers understand them

65% of women online search for

health

82% of moms seek second opinion via

social media

65% of people using social media are

women

Social Media

Multi-tasking

67% of moms used the Internet and watched TV concurrently

While using social media ½ of the moms are talking to someone else

1 in 4 use tablet while watching TV several times a week

Mobile Devices

Nielson research has found:

At least half of moms use social media via mobile devicescompared to 37 percent of the online population.

Overall 54 percent of moms own smartphones (among US mobile subscribers), keeping them connected with family and friends.

 61% more likely to visit

Pinterestthan the average

American

27% more likely to visit blogs

Moms visit…

3 out of 4 mothers

use Facebook

.

Caregivers

Practical Suggestion

s

Emotional Support

Caregivers of elderly and disabled

 Sites visited by Caregivers

Boomer Caregivers

Facebook

Amazon

Wal-MartFederated

Media PublishingLinkedIn

Moms

Facebook

Blogger

Twitter

Myspace

Pinterest

If Targeting Mothers Target Their Children’s Needs

For Sandwiched> Target Both

If Targeting Caregivers of Elders, Target Elders’ Needs Too!

What do caregivers want?

Ask Women What They Need

Accommodate time constraints and attention demands

Engage Influencers

Help Women Support Each Other

Be Shareworthy

Steps to Engagement:

Ask Women What They Need

Focus Groups

Surveys

Chats and Forums

Previous Research

1)perceived degree of seriousness

2)mother's degree of fear of the child's condition

3) attitude of the health care provider

4)previous experience with the situation

5)social support for the mother

Gross, G Howard, M. (2001). Public Health Nurs. 18(3) 157-68.

Mother’s health decisions

Jackson, C, Cheater, F., & Reid,I. Health Expectations (2008). 11(3), 232-251.

A review of 149 studies on parents making child health decisions identified the following areas of support needs:

1) Information-including suggestions about the content, delivery, source and timing

2)Talking to others including concerns about pressure from others

3) Feeling a sense of control over the process or service

Decision support needs of parents

Accommodate time constraints and attention demands

• Have a presence where women already congregate

Social Media, including making your

content available on mobile devices

Real-time

Engage Influencers

Achieving Credibility

Credibility

Value

Influencers

Experts

Support What Women Value

Relationships

24/7 forum for discussion

Support through

respite, meet-ups or

activities

Provide useful information based on real-life

questions

Provide calendar and connections to organize help

  MUST BE CREDIBLE

MUST BE CONSISTENT

MUST BE EVER-PRESENT

MUST BE EASY TO OBTAIN

Messaging

Help Women Support Each Other

• #BCSM

#BCSM

Crohnology

Crohnology

Be Shareworthy

Photo sharing opportunities

Calendars

Support

Information

Caregiver Action Network

“There are four kinds of people in this world:

those who have been caregivers,

those who currently are caregivers,

those who will be caregivers, and

those who will need caregivers.”

~Rosalyn Carter