1. Reaching out and Reaching in . . .
The Priester Conference 2012
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D.,
Deputy Associate Director Communications and
Public Liaison, Office of the Director,
National Institutes of Health
10 April 2012

2. What do Dancing Queen and Stayin’
Alive have in common?
• Leisure Suits?
• Disco Balls?
• Bad times?
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

3. . . .Translation of Findings to Practice
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

4. • Fears and Concerns: Mouth to mouth; harming the
person; legal consequences; won’t perform properly
• Solutions: Chest compressions only; can’t hurt
them any more; Good Samaritan Laws; SIMPLIFY
THE PROCESS
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

5. From American Heart Association
Or pick your song . . .use your smartphone. . .
• Lay Your Hands on Me (Bon Jovi)
• Kickstart My Heart (Motley Crue)
• Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (Diana Ross)
• Thank God I’m a Country Boy (John Denver)
• Man in the Mirror (Michael Jackson)
Sarver Heart Center Univ of Arizona College of
Medicine and SHARE M.C. Guy and S.J. Coons
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

6. The Common Thread-
The Audience, Message, and Purpose
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

7. • “No problem can be
solved from the same
level of consciousness
that created it.”
• “Concern for man and his
fate must always form the
chief interest of all
technical endeavors.
Never forget this in the
midst of all your diagrams
and equations.”
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

8. Public Servants-
What are we doing with their money?
“In a recent radio interview a leading senior physicist
described the modern scientific dilemma. ‘When I was in
graduate school I thought I would go into a room and
people would slide money through a slot in the door. I
would do science, and then slide the results back out. But
as my career has gone on, they are increasingly opening
the door and asking me what I am doing with their money’.”
NIMH release
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

9. What’s in it for me? What are you
learning that will help my life and my
family and friends and others?
Tell me what I need to know
Tell me what I need to do
Give me skills and resources I didn’t have
Don’t miss critical steps
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

10. At the Core . . .
• Ethos “credibility” “trustworthiness”
assigned by listener
• Pathos emotional appeal
• Logos logical appeal
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

11. Items to Consider
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

12. Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

13. Back to the Future . . .again!
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

14. Aye, there’s the rub . . .
Balancing opportunity and responsibility
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

15. • Sender - “encoder”
• Receiver - “decoder”
• Noise—
− Relationship
− Status difference
− Receiver’s interest
− Receiver’s emotional state
− Receiver’s knowledge
− Receiver’s communication skills
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

16. Identification without . . .
losing our good name
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

17. Allen’s reminder:
Communication is fundamental, constant, dynamic,
and changes over time. Translation, implementation,
and dissemination are dependent upon finely-honed,
dynamic communication strategies and effective and
evidence-based tools and tactics.
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

18. The basics
• Know your audience (s)!
• Know your message
• Know your purpose
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

19. Some old theories still apply
• Rhetorical communication: Stimulating a source-selected
meaning in the mind of a receiver (McCroskey)
• Imagery: Making the audience see, hear, taste, touch,
feel more than is actually present…
• Active “listening”: How do they know they’ve been heard?
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

20. Communication (McCroskey)
• Accidental Communication
• Expressive Communication
• Rhetorical Communication
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

21. Findings on persuasion
• One is persuaded by someone he/she likes
• One is persuaded by someone he/she believes
• One is persuaded by someone he/she is close to
(proximate)
(Cialdini)
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

22. Key Encoding (McCroskey)
• Selection
• Apportionment
• Arrangement
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

23. Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

24. The David K. Berlo Observation
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

25. “Did You Know?”- NCI
Time it took to reach adoption by 50 million persons
Radio → 38 years
Television → 13 years
Internet → 4 years
iPod → 3 years
Facebook → 2 years
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

26. . . . and Twitter
“13% of online adults use the status update service
Twitter, which represents a significant increase from
the 8% who identified themselves as Twitter users in
November 2010. 95% of Twitter users own a mobile
phone and half of these users access the service on
their handheld device.”
A Smith, PEW Charitable Trust
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

27. Comparisons
When people evaluate an experience, they are performing
one or more of the following comparisons:
2.Comparing the experience to what they hoped it would
be
3.Comparing the experience to what they expected it to be
4.Comparing the experience to other experiences they
have had in the recent past
5.Comparing the experience to experiences that others
have had.
Schwartz, 2004
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

28. Behavior change theory… Diffusion
 Individual effects [individuals improve knowledge
and attitudes]
 Social diffusion [change in public norms]
 Institutional [change in elite opinion,
diffusion influencing policy, influencing
individuals]
Robert C. Hornik in Public Health Communication: Evidence for Behavior
Change . ed. Hornik RC. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, 2002. p 14
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

29. Cultural competence
• Not an appliqué… Part of
the fabric…
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

30. Language challenges
• According to current Federal data, there are at least 329
languages* spoken or signed in the United States. In some
cities, less than 60 percent of the population has English as
a first language.
* [note apparently missing data from the 550+ recognized American Indian
tribes—including 223 Alaskan native]
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

31. Additional Challenges
• How fast do we talk? How fast do we think?
• How much of what we know that we have learned by
listening?
• Amount of the time we are distracted, preoccupied or
forgetful? 75%
• How much we usually recall immediately after we listen
to someone talk?
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

32. . . . And why the sound bite is actually
important
• We listen at 125–250 words per minute, but think at
1000–3000 words per minute.
(High Gain, Inc.)
• How much of what we know that we have learned by
listening? 85% (Shorp)
• Amount of the time we are distracted, preoccupied or
forgetful? 75% (Hunsaker)
• How much we usually recall immediately after we listen
to someone talk? 50% (International Listening
Association)
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

33. What communication alone can do
• Increase the intended audience’s knowledge and
awareness of a (health issue), problem, or solution
• Influence perceptions, beliefs, and social norms
• Prompt action
• Demonstrate of illustrate skills
• Reinforce knowledge, attitudes, or behavior
• Show benefits of behavior change
• Advocate a position
• Increase demand or support for services
• Refute myths and misconceptions
• Strengthen organizational relationships
The Pink Book NCI
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

34. Communication combined with other
strategies can do:
• Cause sustained change in which an individual maintains
a new (health) behavior or an organization adopts and
maintains a new policy direction
• Overcome barriers/ systematic problems
The Pink Book NCI
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

35. Communication cannot:
• Compensate for inadequate systems/resources
• Produce sustained change in complex behaviors without
support of a larger program for change
• Be equally effective in addressing all issues or relaying
all messages or suggested behavior change may be
complex, because the intended audience may have
preconceptions about the topic or the message sender,
or because the topic may be controversial
The Pink Book NCI
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

36. What kind of learner?
• Auditory
• Visual
• Tactile
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

37. Some Take Home Messages
• Communication is a fundamental skill-and an art
• Communication makes ideas live and have greater
impact on civilization
• Communication should be both honest and skillfully
constructed
• You must know your audience (s), your purpose and your
message every time
• Scientists have an increasing need to communicate
• Prepare carefully-and out loud
• Enjoy the process and the product
• Stay in touch with new opportunities
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

38. Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

39. Urgent STOP New Romantics
discovered STOP Send poetry
and drawings STOP survival
depends on it STOP Grateful
END
D.H. Lawrence
*Thought it was MY idea, but shows up on a blog:
“Is Twitter Telegram 3.0? by Beverly Macy on
January 14, 2009
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

40. A note from my sponsor!
Your NIH
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

41. NIH Mission
. . .to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature
and behavior of living systems and the application of
that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and
reduce the burdens of illness and disability.
Marin P. Allen,

42. NCI
The National Institutes of Health NINR
NCCAM NIEHS
NCATS OD NIAMS
NIMHD NIDA
NLM NIMH
NEI NIDDK
NIBIB NINDS
NHLBI
NHGRI NIDCR
NIA NIDCD
NIGMS CIT
NIAAA NICHD
NIAID
FIC CC
CSR
Extramural only No Funding Authority
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

43. Emerging Public Health Challenges
Shift from Acute to Chronic Conditions
Aging Population
Health Disparities
Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases
Emerging Non-communicable Diseases — Obesity
Biodefense
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

44. Evolving Public Health Challenges
Shift from Acute to Chronic Conditions
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

45. Translating Evidence-Based
Research Results
NIH: News in Health
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

46. Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

47. Two New Resources
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

48. Marin P. Allen,

49. Marin P. Allen,

50. ORWH—setting the pace
52 weeks blog
− Originally a publication, the 52 weeks of women’s
health will first become a blog. From there, we
have the ability to feed it into several social media
outlets, an RSS feed, Twitter, Facebook, and a
Mobile App
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

51. The Front Page of the
Women’s Health App:
52 Weeks of Women's Health Mobile Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12
App

52. Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

53. NIH . . .Turning Discovery Into Health
Everyday . . .Every way . . .24/7
Marin P. Allen, Ph.D. 4/10/12

54. marin_allen@nih.gov