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5 Why Frames Matter
Pages 37-44

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From page 37...
... METHODS AND MODELS FOR UNDERSTANDING RACE AND HEALTH One method that FrameWorks researchers use to learn about how people understand social and policy issues is to talk to dozens of people 1 This chapter is the rapporteur's synopsis of the presentation made by Julie Sweetland, a sociolinguist and the vice president for strategy and innovation at the FrameWorks Institute, and the statements have not been endorsed or verified by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2 FrameWorks' definition of framing is available at http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/ sfa-overview.html (accessed July 13, 2016)
From page 38...
... When the topic is race, Sweetland said, Americans appeal to a model of historical progress as represented by a narrative that Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of racial equality has been fulfilled with the election of Barack Obama, an African American president. More broadly there is a deep narrative that racism was solved in the 1960s and that the policies that supported structural racism were taken care of during the years of the Civil Rights Movement.
From page 39...
... The cultural models that people have available to understand health, such as health individualism, and the cultural models that people have to understand race, such as separate fates and historical progress, do not allow the public to really engage in the kinds of policy thinking that promote racial and social justice, Sweetland said. REFRAMING COMMUNICATION TO ADVANCE RACIAL EQUITY Sweetland discussed a range of examples and explanations of how to reframe communication in order to explain inequities in a manner that makes sense to a range of Americans.
From page 40...
... Framing is not ignoring the problem; instead, it involves calibrating the level of "problem­ ess" with the availability of solutions and focusing n on the possibility of improvements having shared benefits. Sweetland offered advice on what to avoid and on the best strategies to advance a message: Avoid • Who is affected and how much.
From page 41...
... And when people live near quality grocery stores, it's easier to eat a healthy diet. Having social support also affects health and wellness by helping people avoid depression and other mental health problems.
From page 42...
... The first was framed using "evidence of systemic inequality": Blacks, Latinos, and Mexican Americans experience nearly twice the amount of untreated tooth decay as their white, non-Latino counterparts. There are stark racial and ethnic inequities that characterize almost every area of life -- from education and housing to development and health.
From page 43...
... The Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center took a practical approach to building community awareness of the troubling data among Blacks, Latinos, and Mexican Americans by engaging a team of young men of color to serve as "oral health ambassadors. The frame effects of this "fairness across places" approach is that it cues a contextual flavor of fairness that the circumstances beyond individuals' control should be taken into account.
From page 44...
... Leading with an equity message may not be the way to bring the most people into this kind of movement, but they absolutely can get there. People will support equity.


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