Did you know that TNG’s Executive Director Dr. Sara Gorman just published her second book? Here’s a little blurb from her on what the book is about.
We’re certainly hearing a lot about trust these days. We’re hearing that trust in government and other societal institutions, like the healthcare system, is dwindling. So what’s going on here? I recently published a book, called The Anatomy of Deception: Conspiracy Theories, Distrust, and Public Health in America, that set out to examine this in the realm of healthcare. I conducted over 70 interviews with people and their family members who self-proclaimed as having low trust in the healthcare system. I also conducted exhaustive searches of the literature on trust.
Here’s what I found:
🔹 Access to healthcare drives trust. Over and over again, people told me that the more they felt they could access the healthcare system, the more they trusted it. People who felt “shut out” by high costs, lack of insurance, and other barriers to accessing care (like transportation or childcare issues) reported declining trust and greater rates of seeking out alternative treatments instead of conventional care.
🔹 Trust in the healthcare system is a life-or-death phenomenon. People reported cases of family members avoiding lifesaving treatment due to low trust. This issue is absolutely urgent!
🔹 People expect the government to take care of their well-being. People across the political aisle expressed an expectation that the government would take care of their basic health and well-being, even when they didn’t support universal healthcare or other healthcare reforms of that nature.
So what do we do about this trust problem, which some have even called a crisis?
For one thing, we must recognize that anything that builds access will build trust.
Any healthcare reforms that promise to relieve medical debt or give people easier access to prescription medications, for example, deserve your support.
📝 Write a letter to Congress supporting these kinds of reforms.
🗣️ If you’re a healthcare professional, lobby your professional societies to take on these issues more directly. The more healthcare professional societies can lobby for healthcare reform that builds access, the closer we’ll get to achieving better access across the population.
💬 Continue to talk to people in your lives who have low levels of trust in the healthcare system.
🧡 Be compassionate and show empathy.
Check out some of our past Nerdy Girl posts on talking to people who are hesitant or thinking in conspiratorial ways for guidance.
My uncle is knee-deep in COVID conspiracy theories. Any tips for respectfully engaging him?
How stable are conspiracy theory beliefs?
Listen to Dr. Sara Gorman’s recent podcast with Public Health On Call (produced by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.)
Public Health On Call: 814 – Book Club—The Anatomy of Deception: Conspiracy Theories, Distrust, and Public Health in America
You can purchase Sara’s book here.
