WHY TALK RISK?: EXPLORING THE GOALS AND ETHICS OF RISK COMMUNICATION

Format Requirements: This course will be conducted as a discussion-style seminar in which the faculty and participants review and discuss key principles and then unpack how they apply to a variety of case studies in risk communication. While anyone interested in risk communication may attend, we anticipate that familiarity with both practical risk communication applications and at least some of the relevant literature will enable attendees to get the maximum value from participating.

This seminar-style course will engage participants in a shared exploration of why patients receive risk communications and how the goals and ethical principles underlying risk communication should influence the timing, methods and formats used. We will use a case-based learning approach to explore (a) when risk communication is best used to inform vs. to change beliefs vs. to promote specific actions, (b) ethical principles regarding adequacy of communication, and (c) barriers to effective use of different types of risk information.  Our objective will be to use a discussion of WHY we communicate risk in order to clarify WHEN, WHAT, and most importantly HOW such communications should best be done, and how such outcomes should be measured and evaluated.

At the end of the session, attendees will have enhanced understanding of the strengths and challenges of applying the following concepts and principles to evaluate cases of risk communication:

• Bioethical criteria for determining adequacy of disclosure for informed consent and shared decision-making,
• Evaluability of information as a precursor to effective use of information,
• Value of minimalism and simplicity (“less is more”), especially when the target audience has lower numeracy skills,
• Distinctions between situations in which the communication goals are behavior change vs. informed choice, and
• Mapping the range of patient needs for risk information to different formats and types of risk communication.