Updates and New Stuff
Noteworthy announcements on what I’ve been doing lately.
I am super excited to be included in Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s newest book, “It Doesn’t Have to Hurt.”
I was interviewed about my research on illness identity, or how a chronic illness or disability changes your sense of self, as well as how it influences the way others see you (and what they expect from the relationship).
Appearing in mass market books like this is one way to get empirical research into the hands of people who need it. More than 20% of American adults deal with ongoing pain that influences their daily life — I’m proud to play a small role in helping them acknowledge their situation, manage their symptoms, and thrive in the face of chronic pain.
Check out my appearance on the podcast “Since You Put It That Way”
I was honored to chat with Dr. Mary Louder, a Michigan-based doctor of osteopathic medicine with more than 30 years of experience providing integrative primary care to patients with complex medical problems. We talked about health mis-, mal- and disinformation: how to identify it, why it spreads, and how to stop it. As our country grapples to maintain effective and sensical public health policies, understanding what’s real and what’s “clickbait” is more crucial than ever.
New Research Published
During the COVID pandemic, my co-author and I wondered about the true power of social media: do unsponsored, personal posts by your friends and family influence your own beliefs and attitudes about health behaviors? And does loneliness or isolation change that influence?
Through the Center for Health Communication at UT-Austin, I created a FREE online training module for the Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute about health misinformation: what it is, why it’s tempting to believe, and how to talk with people who might buy into it.