Tag: Community Engagement

Challenging Misinformation: Exploring Equity- and Community-Driven Strategies

Course Objective

  • Define terms such as “infodemic management”, and other current terminology as related to misinformation within a variety of interpersonal and media settings 
  • Discuss the link between misinformation, trust, and behavioral change, including issues surrounding the politicization of health information, historical reasons for mistrust among many groups, and the role of social media 
  • Describe promising equity-and community-driven strategies to: 
    • address misinformation 
    • build trust at the community and population levels  
    • strengthen communication systems to improve health, social, and policy outcomes 
  • Discuss relevant case studies and resource

Date: September 7th 2021

Presenter:
Renata Schiavo, PhD, MA, CCL
Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Founder and Board President, Health Equity Initiative
Principal, Strategies for Equity and Communication Impact (SECI)


In this month’s Log-In2Learn webinar, Dr. Renata Schiavo, PhD, MA, CCL, surveys evidence-based systems strategies for health professionals to challenge misinformation. She begins by reviewing socio-ecological models from the science of trust, emphasizing the importance of social, political and environmental factors. While acknowledging the new challenges posed by social media, which does not rely on peer-review or fact-checking processes, she reminds us that misinformation is older than the information age, going over historical reasons for mistrust such as the Tuskegee syphilis study. She defines an effective infodemic response, goes over 7 types of mis/dis-information as well as healthy information behaviors. This background leads to the paradigm shift to equity- and community-driven strategies, which Dr.Schiavo breaks down by priority and explains how to incorporate into health promotion programming.

Participants will learn how to:

  1. Define terms such as “infodemic management”, and other current terminology as related to misinformation within a variety of interpersonal and media settings 
  2. Discuss the link between misinformation, trust, and behavioral change, including issues surrounding the politicization of health information, historical reasons for mistrust among many groups, and the role of social media 
  3. Describe promising equity-and community-driven strategies to: address misinformation, build trust at the community and population levels , strengthen communication systems to improve health, social, and policy outcomes 
  4. Discuss relevant case studies and resource
Community Engagement: The People’s Approach to Improving Health and Social Outcomes

Course Objective

  • Define community engagement
  • Discuss why community engagement is critical in advancing health and social equity
  • Describe the role of local health departments (LHDs) in engaging local communities and their leaders in the design, implementation, and evaluation of health interventions and policies
  • List best practices, strategies, and participatory processes for community dialogue and engagement
  • Discuss ways to integrate community engagement in public health practice

Date: June 30th 2021

Subject  Matter Expert: 
Renata Schiavo, PhD, MA, CCL
Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; Founder and Board President, Health Equity Initiative; Principal, Strategies for Equity and Communication Impact (SECI)


This course developed by the Region 2 Public Health Training Center (PHTC) focuses on community engagement, and the role of local health departments in engaging local communities. It focuses on strategies for “true” community engagement, which is about collaborating with and empowering local communities, and recognizing the expert in every community member and every leader representing the community. It also provides an overview of case studies, best practices and strategies for community dialogue and engagement and/or integrating community engagement in public health practice.

Participants will be able to:

  1. Define community engagement
  2. Discuss why community engagement is critical in advancing health and social equity
  3. Describe the role of local health departments (LHDs) in engaging local communities and their leaders in the design, implementation, and evaluation of health interventions and policies
  4. List best practices, strategies, and participatory processes for community dialogue and engagement
  5. Discuss ways to integrate community engagement in public health practice
Region 2 Public Health Training Center