Key Concepts introduction

Key Concepts are principles for deciding what to believe and what to do for our health

 

Information overload

There is lots of information – including a lot of misinformation – about what is good or bad for our health. This includes information about the effects of, for example, taking a medicine, exercising, eating chocolate, or not eating chocolate.

It also includes things that we do for the health of a community — for example, making sure that water is safe to drink, making sure everyone has access to health care when they need it, or reducing the use of fossil fuels.

Informed choices

Making an informed choice entails using the best information available when we decide what to do. For health choices, this includes using the best available information about the effects of doing (or not doing) something. Informed health choices don’t guarantee good outcomes, but they make good outcomes more likely.

Principles to help people decide what to believe and what to do

The Informed Health Choices (IHC) Key Concepts are principles that can help us decide what to believe about the effects of doing something for our health and what to do. The concepts can help us to recognise unreliable claims, recognise reliable evidence, and make well-informed choices.

Descriptions of individual Key Concepts:

 

Key Concepts poster

Publications and resources for the Key Concepts

In-depth explanations and the basis for the Key Concepts

Key Concepts for Informed Health Choices: a framework for enabling people to think critically about health claims (Version 2022)

Translations: Spanish (2018 version), Arabic (2017 version)

Explanatory essays:


Development of the Key Concepts: 

We published the first version of the IHC Key Concepts in 2015. In our Key Concepts publications, you can find earlier versions of the Key Concepts, reports of how we developed the Key Concepts, and how we have used the Key Concepts.

Key Concepts for primary school students

In a structured process, we identified which Key Concepts were likely relevant and teachable to primary school students.
See: Prioritization of concepts for primary school.

  • The following 12 Key Concepts formed the basis of IHC resources for primary schools (10-12 year olds):Concepts about claims:
    • Messages that ignore harms
    • Trust in personal experiences
    • Belief that commonly-used means effective
    • Belief that new is better
    • Trust in expert opinions
    • Trust that there are no competing interests
    • Messages with no comparison
    • Belief in single studies


    Concepts about evidence:

    • Similar comparison groups
    • Participants unaware of health action
    • Small studies


    Concepts about choices:

    • Benefits and harms
Key concepts for secondary school students

In a structured process, we identified which Key Concepts were likely relevant and teachable to secondary school students.
See: Prioritization of concepts for secondary school.

  • The following 9 Key Concepts formed the basis of the Be Smart About Your Health resources for secondary schools:Concepts about claims:
    • Messages that ignore harms
    • Messages that exaggerate effects
    • Trust in personal experiences
    • Belief that commonly-used means effective
    • Belief that new is better
    • Messages with no comparison


    Concepts about evidence:

    • Similar comparison groups
    • Small studies


    Concepts about choices:

    • Benefits and harms

     

Key Concepts for parents

In a structured process, we identified which Key Concepts were likely relevant and teachable to parents.
See: Prioritization of concepts for mass media

The following 9 Key Concepts form the basis of two podcasts developed for parents (Ugandan podcast and USA podcast):

Concepts about claims:

  • Messages that ignore harms
  • Messages with no comparison
  • Belief that association means causation
  • Belief in single studies
  • Belief that commonly-used means effective
  • Trust in personal experiences
  • Trust in expert opinions


Concepts about evidence:

  • Similar comparison groups


Concepts about choices:

  • Advantages & disadvantages
Key Concepts for other disciplines
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