Amongst the many lessons we will take away from the COVID-19 pandemic is the importance of getting public health messaging right. Mistakes – in this instance – can literally cost lives. The ‘Stay Alert’ campaign was widely criticised by the public and psychologists alike for its lack of practical guidelines. Campaigners have also been concerned by the lack of translated materials leading to late, or outdated dissemination of key messages to BAME communities.
The issue of effective communication is central to much of the work that HCPs do. Handing patients specialist medications isn’t enough, in itself, to ensure their efficacy. The transaction is two way, requiring that patients take responsibility for administering the medication correctly in order to receive its benefits. And in the gap between prescription and application lies the crucial requirement for clear and effective communication.
At LDA Research we’re interested in why communication between an HCP and their patient ‘cuts through’ in some instances, and fails to do so in others. What are the conditions required for messaging to be ‘heard’ and understood by patients? Where messaging fails, what are the causes and do they lie with the transmitter, or receiver of the information?
The LDA team has carried out numerous research projects with patients managing eczema, diabetes, COPD, high blood pressure and cancer. We collated our findings into ‘High Adherence Behaviours’ and ‘Low Adherence Behaviours’ in order to discern the differences in how diverse patient groups perceive a medical condition and their goals in treating it.
Messaging is considered effective where the compliant behaviours are consistently adhered to by patients. We discovered that messaging is most effective where the condition being treated creates short term severe conditions, or where the conditions are severe and chronic. In both cases, the medication outcome is clear and unambiguous – a relief of severe symptoms.
A research project carried out by LDA Research with eczema patients found their condition to be “not life threatening but life altering.” Often sufferers are driven to seek out topical treatments in order to find relief. New injectable therapies such as Dupilumab require a high level of compliance; the patient needs to learn to self inject, manage medication storage and maintain a self injection regime. However, compliance is found to be high because the benefits are highly visible.
Eczema is a highly visible skin condition and sufferers often feel socially embarrassed by their symptoms. Conditions such as COPD, diabetes, asthma or high blood pressure are less visible. Where the symptoms of condition are more intangible, and the medication more preventative rather than curative, HCP messaging is often less effective. Patients may struggle to comply with their treatment regime.
In the case of asthma and COPD patients will tend to over-use rescue therapies, where the impact is immediate, and under-use preventative medication where the goal is deferred. What is lacking with preventative treatments is the motivational drive, possibly underpinned by an uncertainty as to the impact of the treatment on the disease.
‘Cut through’ is critical to the health of patients, so the rewards of ongoing research and practical innovation in this area are substantial. Based on the work of LDA Research to date, we’re suggesting 4 recommendations for improvement: