Advancing Health looks back on a legacy of making science more accessible since 1998
You’re scrolling down your social media platform of choice. In between videos of cats and breaking news headlines, you’re bombarded with health information. “Detox your pantry,” “take this supplement,” “avoid this chemical!” In a digital landscape where sensationalism and clickbait can overshadow fact, it can be difficult to cut through the noise.
Evidence Speaks is designed to be an antidote to health misinformation. Each month, our series digs deep into three recent papers by Advancing Health researchers, explaining their key findings in a way that’s understandable to the general public. In August, we published the 100th edition of Evidence Speaks, presenting an opportunity for us to celebrate knowledge mobilization, and how it can be key to eliminating barriers to access.
Speaking Up
The title ‘Evidence Speaks’ began very literally—the series began in 1998 as seminar series by Advancing Health, then called CHEOS, to translate new research findings for British Columbian policy makers. Held over lunch on February 19th that year, Dr. John Spinelli gave a presentation on then-new data on the outcome of cardiac surgery in BC.
Michael O’Shaughnessy, the Associate Director, Regional and Governmental Affairs, said at the time, “We are an organization that seeks to publish results in peer review journals. But we also understand that what we discover about the delivery of healthcare is often of significant use of those who administer the health care system at the regional and provincial levels.”
It is true that Advancing Health research, which covers diverse fields such as infectious disease, aging, and mental health, deserves to be communicated with policy makers. That’s how large-scale changes are made. At the same time, the general public, who are directly impacted by new health care findings and policies — equally deserve access to this knowledge. To reach that audience, Evidence Speaks needed to evolve, and the internet offered opportunities to connect in ways we never imagined.
Going Digital
“The internet really democratized science, which is something Evidence Speaks fully embraces,” said Sean Sinden, Advancing Health’s Director of Knowledge Translation. “We don’t want science to belong exclusively to those in universities. That’s why our goal is to provide succinct, plain language summaries of our publications and accompanying infographics that can be shared widely. We aim to show the breadth of the work taking place at the Centre and help our scientists and their partners share their amazing research.”
The first Evidence Speaks article went live on our website in October 2016, and it laid the foundation for the series’ current format, giving short-form roundups of a variety of recent papers by Advancing Health scientists. However, those initial posts covered four stories rather than three, with each summary being much shorter than in their current iteration. However, while the writing conveyed the information in a clear way, there were no paired visuals.
We’ve all experienced the benefit of a clear visual to go along with complex information, and without them, it can be much harder for people to grasp abstract scientific concepts. Plus, it’s just way better to look at! That’s why in December of 2020, The Evidence Speaks began featuring infographics which summarized the key findings of the featured studies. Sinden said, “Being able to distill the key points of a study 10×5 inch graphic is a fantastic tool to quickly and effectively share new findings and give people a peek into the world of health research.”
This early infographic on Tuberculosis from a 2021 Evidence Speaks is very text heavy.
While results are important to understanding science, they only make sense in the context of how and why a study was conducted. Sinden said, “By summarizing the work in only a few pictures, we run the risk of oversimplifying the findings without the necessary context to properly interpret them and contributing to online hype. It’s very important that we balance accessibility with adherence to scientific principles.”
That’s why the Evidence Speaks infographics have grown more complex over time, now explaining background information about the issue at hand and study design elements, along with the key take-aways from the results.
Spreading The Word
In its modern form, Evidence Speaks has been tailored to suit social media, grabbing eyes on busy social media feeds.
These infographics from September 2022 and May 2024 are two of our most popular performing entries in the Evidence Speaks Series
The social media landscape is changing, and Evidence Speaks needs to change with it. With the growing popularity of platforms such as Instagram, Advancing Health is beginning to adapt Evidence Speaks for the vertical format used on the popular platforms like Instagram. Given the growing popularity of short-form video, the team is also planning to bring the series to this medium, reaching a whole new audience. “I would like to leverage the series to help scientists and trainees share their findings directly with the public by discussing and explaining their work in these short videos,” said Sinden.
Want to help spread the word of Evidence Speaks yourself? You can! Not only can you re-post and share our posts, but we also actively encourage you to copy our infographics and share them far and wide. Michaela Davies, Chief Impact and Communication Officer of Advancing Health shares, “One of my favourite quotes is that science isn’t finished until it’s communicated.” Davies continued, “We are at a critical point in public health where we’ve seen the life-threatening repercussions of not communicating in ways that are understandable to the public.”
From discussing predictors of homelessness among vulnerably housed adults to learning how e-book clubs help improve quality of life in long-term care residents, we’ve explored and translated research across disciplines like health economics, gerontology, mental health, cardiology, nephrology, HIV research, epidemiology, and many more! What has stayed consistent is our commitment to knowledge mobilization and building a bridge to accessibility.
Every day, science evolves. Science communication evolves with it. It’s hard to imagine what The Evidence Speaks will look like after another hundred entries, but we’re excited to find out. We hope you are too.
