Discover how to write life-changing health content and grow your writing career. Explore the latest health communication research and get best-practice writing strategies that work.
If you’re contemplating a move from working as an employed health writer to working for yourself, it’s important to realise the magnitude of this decision. Working as a freelance health writer has the potential to change your hours, job purpose and even personal life.
Had The Lancet not published their now retracted article, “Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children” by Andrew Wakefield et al. in 1998, perhaps we wouldn’t be facing one of the most significant public health challenges of our time.
Fear mongering and scare tactics are used in public health campaigns to drive behavioural changes. We see fear in headlines for online articles, food label warnings, pamphlets and brochures. But how effective are these fear-based messages?
A free checklist to help you break down the art and science of clear health writing.
There’s no denying that assessing your writing is a daunting, confusing task. Luckily, there are quite a few ways to evaluate your skills so you can develop your writing abilities with confidence.
What does the future hold for the health writing industry this year? Are we in good shape, and where are the opportunities? Read on to find out.
A US research team aimed to determine the natural indicators of uncertain language and understand how these indicators predict decisional conflict.
Health buzzwords like ‘protein’, ‘paleo’ and ‘organic’ are used by marketers as key selling points for many of today’s health products. Yet these words can also trick consumers into believing a product is healthier than it really is.
As health writers, we focus a lot of our energy on knowledge. We write ‘how to’ articles about eating better, exercising more, breaking bad habits, making healthy choices and reducing risk factors. We offer knowledge – but, we rarely sell the desire to change.
This is a question that comes up often in my course groups. And, it’s reasonable and natural to worry about time. Time is money. The less time you spend writing, the more money you make. The more time you spend researching, writing, reviewing and refining, the more your hourly rate drops.
As health writers, we need to recognise and understand the social factors that limit health literacy so we can help our readers understand our health information. We can do this by looking at the key outcomes from a range of health literacy research into both local and global communities.
As health writers, we need to identify the ideal medium to share our key messages to our target audience to ensure our writing influences health outcomes.
How do you get experience if everyone wants someone with experience?
Confidence is a common concern for writers. So, is it possible to build self-assurance and courage, and which methods really work?
While quality medical evidence underlies accurate health writing, clear writing helps the information translate easily – enter the concept of ‘processing fluency’.
