Health Behavior and Health Equity

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Difficult Conversations: Using Motivational Interviewing to Convince People to Get Vaccinated

Generally speaking, giving unsolicited advice to people only tends to annoy them and make them less likely to change any of their behaviors. Real change tends to come when someone sees a discrepancy between their own behavior and what they value as a person. So, how do you talk to a coworker, friend, or family member who is firmly entrenched in anti-vaccine beliefs? Preaching to them that COVID vaccines are safe and effective will most likely fail. But there are some lessons to be gleaned from a counseling style called motivational interviewing, where instead of trying to persuade someone, you subtly reflect back to them their own thoughts and feelings. In other words, you allow the other person to drive the conversation, with the idea that they themselves will see discrepancies between their actions and their beliefs. University of Michigan School of Public Health Professor Ken Resnicow has studied and used motivational interviewing since the early 1990s and has some timely tips for how to engage in these difficult conversations.

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Healing Flint through community partnership

In this episode of Population Healthy Season 3: Race, Inequity, and Closing the Health Gap, we explore how the city of Flint faces a myriad of interwoven and complex public health challenges and how incorporating the voices of the city’s residents into research and decision making through the practice of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) can lead to more positive and meaningful health outcomes for the community.

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A City of Resilience: Public Health in Detroit

Detroit is more than one thing — it’s hundreds of neighborhoods and hundreds of thousands of people living, working and growing together. In Population Healthy’s Season One finale, Michigan Public Health researchers and alumni explore the unique public health issues facing the Motor City, and how they’re working directly with Detroiters to make the city a better and healthier place.

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Aging in America: Addressing the Complexities of Longer Lives and an Aging Population

With Americans living longer than ever before, how do we stay healthy as we get older? Experts from Michigan Public Health dive into the public health issues facing an aging population — from healthcare costs to alzheimer’s prevention, and the importance of our families and furry friends — and explore how we can ensure longer, happier, and healthier lives for all.

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Food and Family: How to Raise Kids Who Have a Healthy Relationship With Food

How can we set kids up from an early age to have a healthy relationship with food? With childhood obesity and eating disorder rates on the rise, nutrition and health behavior experts from the University of Michigan School of Public Health explore the ways we can help children and teens establish good habits and build the foundation for healthier lives.