Clinical Pharmacy Guest Seminar – Allison Earl, PhD

U-M College of Pharmacy Clinical Pharmacy Seminar Series

Department: Clinical Pharmacy

Speaker:Allison Earl, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychology
Director, Health, Attitudes, and Influence Lab (HAILab)
University of Michigan

Title: Misperceptions and Missed Connections: An Interpersonal Persuasion Approach to Health Disparities

Abstract: Persuasion is all around us. In this talk, I identify persuasion as an inherently interpersonal act between a message source and a message recipient that unfolds in context. In the context of health and health disparities, patients are as much a part of the persuasion process as clinicians. Thus, an interpersonal persuasion approach treats persuasion as a multiple-mind problem: communicators and audiences have their own experiences, feelings, goals, beliefs, and thoughts that provide important context and shape communication of, engagement with, and receptivity to health messaging and intervention. I then leverage an interpersonal persuasion approach to suggest solutions to three problems in health communication: unequal engagement with health messages, the role of social emotions in health message engagement, and how audiences make sense of health messages. Throughout, I address how this framework can be used to better understand health message receptivity and reduce group-based health disparities. I conclude by discussing limitations of this approach and open questions to consider.

*Event information is subject to change. Please refer to the ClinPharm Seminar schedule for additional details, such as time and location, as they are finalized for each event.