How words impact health communication

1. The Power of Words
Nicole Kraft
School of Communication
#TBStraightTalk
Nicole Kra+
Assistant Professor (clinical)
@nicole_kra+

2. ~ Emily Dickinson
“I know nothing in the world that has as much
power as a word…”

3. Consumption, phthisis, scrofula,
Pott's disease, the White Plague

4. When is a disease
a punchline?

7. Anyone can have TB

8. It’s time to make a change.

9. TB is bacteria in someone’s body.
It does not define who they are.

10. Social Stigma

11. Spoiled Identity

12. Mark of Shame

13. TB ‘Victim’

14. Other People, Not ‘Us’

15. Foreigners

17. Prey is hunted

19. Defaulter
Suspect
Non compliant
TB Control
TB Pa7ent
TB Suspect
Infected
Out with the Old

20. Say what you mean
Mean what you say
Person affected by TB
TB Patient
Acronyms
Infection

22. Who changes
language?

29. STOP
Using s7gma7zing language.
START
Using people-first language
RETHINK and REFRAME
RECOGNIZE
You treat people, not pa7ents or vic7ms

30. – Mark Twain
“The difference between the right word and
the almost right word is the difference
between lightning and the lightning bug.”

31. Thank you!