March 16, 2010
Math anxiety is the tendency to feel anxious at the thought of doing math. This feeling may happen when faced with making change, calculating a tip for the waiter or waitress, balancing a checking account, figuring out how much of an over the counter medicine to take, or adding up how many calories or other nutrients food contains. Not surprisingly, if we feel anxious about these everyday tasks, the prospect of trying to understand health statistics seems even more daunting and causes even greater anxiety.
Math anxiety causes people to avoid situations that might lead to the feeling. In other words, if math makes us feel anxious, we avoid numbers and statistics and any situation where we might have to face dealing with math. Of course, such avoidance means that we miss opportunities to practice math and succeed, which would reduce our anxiety and increase our confidence in our ability to do math.
This reality is particularly alarming when it comes to our health. To make informed decisions, we will probably have to consider some information that is presented as health statistics. It may be information about our risk for a disease, or it may be information about our benefit from a treatment. In either case, it is information that would help us make a more informed decision.
What is the solution? Don’t avoid math. Make the extra effort in whatever situation it might be to understand the statistics and practice the math. In the end, it will pay off. Make the extra effort to be sure your doctor knows you want to know the numbers and what they mean. Make the extra effort to be sure that your local school system is providing opportunities for students to practice math, reduce, their anxiety, increase their confidence in doing math, and improve their skills…
SO much of our culture revolves around food. Take it from the parent of a child with Prader-Willi Syndrome–re-inventing family traditions that all involve food to remove the access has been challenging–but not as much as I thought it would be. It’s actually been fun for us to replace Easter/Valentine’s/Christmas candy with toys, DVDs, games, etc. My kids have never had access to a lot of candy or sweets thanks to Payton’s needs, which has turned out to be a positive instead of a negative. The problem is that most families can’t imagine a different way other than how they were raised–which is another area health communication could help improve.
In other words, use the same motivational strategies the fast food companies have used for years to sell their products, only (Cara says) “for good.”
what’s wrong with pharmaceutical companies making money from medications that save lives?
..nothing… is wrong with companies making money from products that save lives… the challenge is to be sure that users understand whether the product will benefit them and not that the product gets used but because the company is motivated by profit…
I think a national campaign to educate families about *easy* ways to eat healthier (sponsored by the companies who make those healthier alternatives) would be a good place to start.
If food is a deeply rooted culture issue, how could intercultural health communication contribute to this issue?
tax breaks for companies that advertise healthier products?
I agree that healthier food is often more expensive–but I have found ways to incorporate healthy foods into my family’s diet–for example, Kroger runs great sales on their frozen veggies–often pricing them at $1 a bag. That $1 is enough for all four of us to share for one meal (and I have also found that the kids will eat pretty much anything as long as it’s got a little bit of cheese sprinkled on top). But I of course had to be motivated to visit the frozen vegetable section in the first place (and not just grab a bag of french fries while there). That last part is what I think is missing from a lot of perceptions–instead they go to the produce section and have bad experiences with food spoiling before they can eat it, not knowing how to prepare, etc. So they just revert back to the old habits.
But from an “outsider”‘s observation, I’m amazed by seeing the contentions between the people and the “politics” in the country.
I just observe all the debates around the health care reform. I see that different parties and groups just emphasize on different aspects of the bill, and people have so various interpretations. Like Melissa said, “there seems to be a lot more that we don’t know, than we do know.” So I don’t know how to make comments about it…honestly…
Ha! We have one out sick and another who forgot her laptop today (Cara)–I am asking Cara’s questions for her. Sally is here so I am sure after your prodding will post something…Right Sally? 😉
..well, here is my question for you all: how can we use what we know about health communication to support profit motives related to ‘health’ and health care?
ok, have a 4 o’clock meeting and will sign off… thanks for coming online… and feel free to post topics for discussion to keep the blog rolling in a useful direction…
yes, and i’m from west virginia — YAY!
It’s really a shame that we could not include regulations for the nutritional quality of school-provided meals into the reforms. Just think what that one change would do to positively impact the general health of Americans.
I suppose companies have the right to advertising the products that they choose and its up to the American people to make informed, responsible decisions about their health and the products they use that affect their health. I think “most” American people realize what is and is not a healthy lifestyle choice, some make bad choices nonetheless, you can’t blame the makers of “unhealthy” products.
You can ‘blame’ the reality that affordable products are bad for us… cannot remember what show I was watching that had a family show how far a budget goes to feed the parents and four kids… they could stretch the food dollar far enough to fill hungry stomachs with starches and fatty ground beef but not with fruits and vegetables…
I saw the first part of Food Revolution last night–it was fascinating to see the resistance from the cafeteria staff to what he was saying/trying to get them to see. Did they come around in the end? (I had to break away to do baths, bedtime reading, etc. and forgot to record so I don’t know how successful he was with that particular school system.)
are you and Melissa the only ones around today?
What do you think about all of the legal challenges that have been suggested? For example, do you think it’s possible that the Supreme Court could rule that the mandate requiring health insurance is unconstitutional? It seems like the whole thing falls apart at that point, because then the insurance companies will say they won’t be able to cover everyone with pre-existing conditions since people won’t be required to pay for premiums and may choose not to get coverage until/unless they get sick.
I hope they have better lawyers than that…
there seems to be a lot more that we don’t know, than we do know.
What do you think are the general pros and cons of the bill in its current form (assuming the legislation “sticks”)?
I think that is scares folks on Medicare. I wish that wasn’t the case. If I understand the bill [and who does, really as ‘big’ as it is], there is a cutoff around $2,000 each year being paid for precriptions for the elderly. Then they currently before reform had to pay 100% of the cost on their own. Now, I think they pay a percentage of the cost for prescriptions that will benefit older adults who are on expensive meds like cholesterol reducing drugs.. but it may be that some who use less will pay more… In other words, as I tried to sort it out with my parents–what I netted was that they really never reach the $2,000 mark for their meds so they will end up paying more out of pocket with this new model… but their neighbor will pay less overall because of the expensive and extensive meds he is on.
I think that allowing kids to stay on parents’ plans makes sense…tho I don’t know how it affects institutions who now absorb that expense. The question is: for all the kids who will stay on their parent’s plans until they are 26, how many of them would have had no coverage and had some catastrophic costs that had to be absorbed by the ‘system’ but now will be absorbed by existing plans? Where is the point on the cost chart that the two merge? …can’t say…
It is odd that this reform bill has things like college loans tied up in it… I do wonder how preventive care will sort out in the plan. What do you think about entertainment venues and advertisement for unhealthy products relating to profit? Did you see the new show last night–Jamie Oliver’s ‘Food revolution’?
You know, that explains why most of the big pharmaceutical companies’ stocks were WAY up yesterday…I am sure many are also anticipating that with more people gaining access to the system, more prescriptions will be written…Even though that won’t happen for several years under the law…
I would love to all watch Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution–who do you think is paying for that? I watched it last night and was dismayed by the treatment Jamie got… my gosh, change will be impossible without support from the community… and the community has to meet all these federal policies…which btw are not addressed in any way in health care reform…
Do you think that there is a relationship between math anxiety and the numbers related to health care reform?
I believe that math anxiety cripples our understanding about all sorts of health issues… It keeps us from trying to expose ourselves to important content ranging from who makes a profit by selling me this health solution or policy or insurance plan. If we are exposed to the content, and we don’t have the ability to understand it–which higher math anxiety relates to lower numeracy skills–then unfortunately, we often yield to health information we don’t understand. We think we need a medical test we don’t need, we think we will benefit from treatment that may not have been tested on someone like us…
As the healthcare reform bill has been “officially” signed into law, what groups of people or institutions do you think are likely to profit?
…won’t this be interesting to watch… right now, I believe that direct to consumer advertising has assumed a prominent role in the dissemination of information about health and about options for care… so, I don’t see any reason that this will be reigned in by the reform, so I believe profits in the pharmaceutical industry will continue…