In part 1 of this blog series, we looked at the power of Fotonovelas, Interactive Content, and Animations to drive action in health consumers. All this content does the same thing: it goes beyond just telling a member or patient that taking an action is important. It teaches someone why it’s important and what can be gained or lost by action or inaction.
There are more types of content that can be used to solve some pervasive health challenges, though. In this post, we’ll tackle four of the top performing content types that can be used to do this: Courses, Expert Led Lessons, Stories, and Self-Assessments.
Courses to Manage Anxiety and Depression
The World Health Organization estimates lost production as the result of anxiety and depression costs the global economy over $1 trillion every year. And, of course, it isn’t just a productivity issue. Mood disorders make it harder for people to stick with treatment plans, manage chronic conditions, and keep doctor appointments, which can have an overall impact on health and cost of healthcare treatment in the long term.
This makes it an important topic for plans and providers to discuss with their health consumers. Our 5-part course, Living with Anxiety and Depression, taught by author and mindfulness guru, Elisha Goldstein, PhD, teaches self-care strategies for navigating the negativity loop that can serve to keep many of us stuck in negative patterns and behaviors making it a truly powerful learning experience. Healthcare organizations can license the content to provide it any number of ways, including in their own branded content portal.
And anxiety doesn’t just affect adults. According to the CDC, approximately one out of every 10 kids (ages 3-17) have a confirmed anxiety diagnosis. The Parenting Kids with Anxiety course led taught by child psychologist and author, Renee Jain, contains five lessons focused on helping parents help their children transform their feelings of anxiety so they can all find calm, courage, and resilience.
Expert Led Lessons to Empower Consumers
Patients can often feel powerless when they engage in the healthcare system. They leave appointments confused. They have care plans they don’t want or know how to follow. They might not know how to advocate for themselves.
To address this and help them take charge of their care, healthcare organizations can provide expert-led video lessons from trusted experts to educate their members and patients on how to take control of their health. For example, Preparing for a Diagnostic Conversation features Dr. Archelle Georgiou who teaches members how to ensure every health decision is their decision, they leave every interaction feeling heard, and that the decisions made reflect their values and priorities.
These lessons can be embedded online, delivered via SMS messaging, or available on a streaming platform. Giving access to content led by reputable and trusted professionals is the first step to ensuring your members and patients take ownership of their healthcare.
Interactive Stories Encourage Diabetes Eye Exams
Started by Snapchat and copied by Facebook and Instagram, stories are now everywhere. Optimized for mobile delivery, they are auto-advancing snips of videos and images which healthcare plans and providers can take and use on social media as another channel to communicate with their populations or repurpose them for SMS delivered solutions. Our diabetes eye exam story below was promoted to at risk populations and is a great example of how the use of stories can educate.
A quick eye exam can detect early signs of diabetes or pre-diabetes. Because of that, getting members to their eye doctor every year is a priority. To help members really understand why doing so matters to them, we could simply send a text or an email telling them it’s that time, and that might work.
We want to help members really connect to the reality of life with eye disease, though, so to take it a step further and ensure the member or patient really understands the reason behind these exams, you can embedd this video you’re your communication program, and it includes a powerful, easy to follow call-to-action.
Self-Assessment to Determine a Need for Preventive Care Screenings
Increasing regular health screenings is an important goal for every health plan. We have an entire library of assets to help members understand when, why, and how to get the most common health screenings (like mammograms, colonoscopies, eye exams, and more).
Below is an example of a simple interactive self-assessment we provide to help members identify which health screenings are most appropriate for them based on what they tell us. Plans may already know what screenings the member is due for, but by providing this activity, it helps the member connect how their personal characteristics connect to their screening recommendations. Once the member receives their recommendations, we then connect them to additional content to help them better understand how the screening works and what their options may be.
The Bottom Line
Health content in the past has largely been underwhelming where pamphlets, brochures, and information documents were the norm. In today’s environment of social media, streaming content, and digital-first experiences, that won’t work. Healthcare organizations have a wide-open world of rich media experiences they can take and adapt for health education, and it’s imperative they do so! Consumers are not impressed with static (and oftentimes boring) content when the rest of their life is starkly different from that.
These are the top 7 content experiences we’ve seen work, but there are more than just these at healthcare’s disposal. Reach out to us to see what else is available for health outreach!
