Writing about health is a great way to raise awareness and understanding of the vast range of conditions that affect people today. But most readers don’t enjoy feeling pity, discomfort and fear - so how do you choose the right words to ensure your story reaches the people who need to see it?
From a moving personal story about a struggle with poor mental health, to the cold, hard facts presented on a website selling a medical product; writing about ill health is a vital part of helping society understand, accept and include the people affected by it.
Done properly, it’s a powerful tool.
Done poorly, it can cause harm and distress.
Through my work with medical charities and my own experience of poor health, I have learned how to interweave rich, bold stories with the tact and sensitivity required to ensure my readers make it to the final paragraph. If you write about health, here are some tools you can use to make sure you do the same.
Positive phrasing
Naturally, writing about poor health can include the use of a great many negative words. So how do you balance raw honesty and accuracy against the need for the right words to draw people into your content (and make them want to stay there)?
One way is to address the need for positivity in as many places as you can. Use positive phrasing, particularly in the title and headings, for example:
- Overcoming anxiety by celebrating small wins
- Easy exercises for improving muscular strength
- Adopt a healthy diet that promotes a better future
- Why the best time to start exercising is right now
Of course, if you’re writing about your own struggle with chronic illness or a breaking a news story with a negative angle, this may not be possible. That’s okay - people want an accurate title, so don’t force it.
If you are writing something purely informative, you may not be able to use positivity as much as you would like; try using neutral words instead. Instead of talking about the average age at death, you can use mean survival. The numbers are the same, but the context feels less shocking. The word ‘death’ disrupts the flow of your content and could be the point at which your reader chooses to do something less challenging with their time.
Talk about people, not problems
Just reading about someone’s experience with a symptom or illness you face can provide comfort and support when it is needed most. It’s important to think about how you refer to the person or people you are writing about.
While it was once common to describe people as ‘sufferers’ and ‘patients’, we are now moving towards a time where they are ‘people’ first and foremost. So, you might talk about a person with depression, or people with a chronic illness. ‘Patient’ still has a place, if you’re discussing someone within a clinical setting or a research study, but ‘sufferer’ and ‘victim’ can always be replaced with something more sensitive. Tulsi’s ‘Visible Difference’ Story on the Changing Faces website is a great example of putting a person in the spotlight, allowing difficult topics like prejudice and discrimination to be tackled head-first, from her perspective.
Of course, if you are writing about yourself you can choose your own label; it’s useful to consider how the words you choose add to the picture of yourself you are painting for the reader.
Ask the experts
Not the clinicians - ask the people who have first-hand experience of the condition you're writing about. It's easy to make assumptions about 'how it must feel' or what it 'seems like', but human experience is varied and unpredictable. You want to create those 'a-ha' moments, where your reader thinks "YES. You guys just get it".
Even when your article is completely factual, you will learn a lot from asking someone who has lived experience of the topic to contribute. Something as simple as using the right adjective or the perfect analogy can transform your writing from merely informative to truly insightful.
Give your reader a breather
Make use of devices like short paragraphs, quotes, information boxes, links and anecdotes to give your reader a chance to gather their thoughts. Subheadings are good for search engine optimisation (SEO), but they also make your page more readable and allow people to skip to the section they are interested in, if that’s what they want to do.
Images are a good way to help bring the reader back to a normal state. For example, if you are writing for a childrens’ health charity, include a picture of a child with the condition smiling or playing, to remind the reader (most likely a parent) that there is still plenty to look forward to. Real stories and photos from families that have been through the challenges of the illness can also help to show both sides of the story, particularly if your content has to describe a lot of the negatives.
Use facts and statistics with care
Make sure your sources are reliable and your facts are solid. Statistics like life expectancy can be worked out in many different ways, so make sure you understand what it really means. Numbers can really add to a story, but you have to get them right.
Additionally, consider where you are putting the statistics very carefully. If you need to report a young median ago at death, don’t just blurt it out. Make sure you include the right narrative - has it increased by 30% over the past ten years? Do people die younger than those without the condition, but with little impairment to their daily life?
Choose your words wisely
A ‘cure!’ sounds great, but what does it mean? Will it help everyone affected, or just those born with the condition today, or with a specific type of illness? Is it available yet? Is it free on the local healthcare system?
If you have found an alternative or unconventional therapy that works for you, that’s great - but it’s likely to be called ‘alternative’ for a reason. If you mention your positive experience, that will be enough for most people to consider it without you needing to actively promote it to them.
Take care when talking about topics like death. It is important not to shy away from such things, but think carefully about what it is you are trying to achieve. This page and downloadable documents about ‘End of Life Planning and Cystic Fibrosis’ is an example of perfectly pitched resources that provide help dealing with something difficult but necessary.
Think carefully: what do you want to achieve with your content? If you are fundraising to a cold audience then facts and uncomfortable details might be precisely what you need to get people to put their hands in their pockets. But if you are selling a product to people who love someone with a specific condition, do they want to hear about the mortality rate and the difficulties they could face? Put yourself in the shoes of the reader, and make sure you don’t alienate them. For commercial purposes, you need to strike the perfect balance between dramatic and sensitive; it’s not always an easy task.
Another pointer here: if you are advertising/promoting a product or service as part of a partnership, make it clear that you are benefitting from mentioning it in your content.
Include detail
If you are writing about a specialist topic, your readers will want to know every last detail. For example, they can probably likely find out what the diagnostic procedure you're describing entails from the NHS website, but what does it feel like? What sensations do people report? What is it really like to recover from? How many people successfully undergo the procedure each month? The RNIB’s ‘During Your Eye Exam’ information is a detailed example of the type of detail your readers want to see. The comprehensive, downloadable guide to Endometriosis Treatment Options also provides a huge amount of detail on the variety of treatments that are available to women with endometriosis.
Health content also lends itself to frequently-asked-questions (FAQ) pages. If you stick to a few (up to around 10) per webpage and within a specific topic area, they also can be really good for search engine optimisation (SEO). Use the exact phrases people might type into search engines for the best results.
When you answer the questions, do so thoroughly and include input from people who have first-hand experience. They will know what angle to approach the question from. In the same way, “Things I wish I knew before I was diagnosed with [condition/procedure/results]” type articles can really help people feel comfortable with whatever lies ahead.
Choose accessibility
Make sure your content is accessible for people with visual impairments. This includes choosing a webpage design with - for example - dark text and a clear font on a pale, simple background, as well as using suitable alt text to describe your images. This means more people can learn from your content, and keeps the search engines happy, too.
Make use of trigger warnings
Trigger warnings are becoming increasingly common, yet many people who have not experienced mental health problems or significant trauma can struggle to see the use of them. This has caused the spread of misinformation about what purpose they serve. A trigger warning is used to let the reader know that the content includes material that could trigger a mental/physical reaction if they have PTSD or a mental health problem relating to trauma. You could also use them to warn of any imagery that could cause a reaction from people with phobias.
For some health topics this is unlikely to be required, but if you are posting about violence, abuse, sexual health, grief, self harm or eating disorders, then including a trigger warning is unlikely to do you any harm, and could prevent distress. Additionally, if you need to include images such as those of wounds, sick infants or needles, you may decide a warning is required.
To add a trigger warning, make sure it’s up-top before the content you are warning about appears on screen. Just add ‘TW’ (trigger warning) or ‘CW’ (content warning) and a brief description of what will be included. There are a number of commonly used acronyms you can use to avoid using words that may themselves trigger a reaction (such as: sexual abuse, SA; self injury/self harm, SI/SH; eating disorder, ED).
For example, your warning could look like this:
- TW: ED, SH
- CW: images of hypodermic needles
Give it a try
While you don’t want to ‘water down’ you message about ill health, you do want to make sure it’s palatable. So before you hit publish, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is it sensitive to your audience’s situation?
- Is it honest and accurate?
- Is it relevant to the aim of the article?
Once you’re happy that you have put yourself in your readers’ shoes and it is a good read the brings you and your reader closer to achieving your goals, you’re ready to go.
About me
I am a professional writer with many years' experience working with medical charities. Follow me on LinkedIn for more articles on healthcare, business, technology, innovation and freelancing.
