The Power of Personal Storytelling in Health Promotion

Background:

Sean Bland is the Director of Alumni Engagement at Morehouse College. He leads Morehouse’s alumni relations and development efforts through the management of alumni volunteers and maintenance of programmatic and outreach activities. His personal experience with high blood pressure and stroke drives his dedication to share his story with other Black men and he hopes to offer inspiration for those wanting to make changes for better health.

Program background:

Existing health communication research shows that relevant, audience-centric narrative health messages delivered through relevant messengers can be a successful health communication intervention approach. Building on this approach, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke (NINDS) partnered with Mr. Bland—a young Black stroke survivor—to share his personal health story with the community. Mr. Bland has been an essential partner for the Mind Your Risks® campaign and has participated in a variety of outreach activities with students and alumni at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), including Morehouse College.

Evaluation Methods and Results:

In collaboration with NINDS, Mr. Bland co-hosted educational webinars and town halls focused on educating Black men, specifically HBCU students and alumni, on the importance of controlling blood pressure in mid-life to prevent stroke and dementia later in life. We conducted surveys and collected data for all outreach activities to measure success and gather audience feedback.

Conclusions:

Aligned with existing research findings, evaluation data from these activities found that this audience highly connects with authentic, personal stories delivered by Black community leaders and influencers like Mr. Bland. Outreach and storytelling through HBCU leaders, students, and alumni is an innovative and effective approach to disseminate health messages among Black Americans.

Implications for research and/or practice:

During this panel discussion, Mr. Bland will share his personal testimonial and how to identify and engage with Black leaders, including leaders and influencers from HBCUs, to bring awareness to health topics and inequities among underserved communities. He will also demonstrate how personal health testimonials can be used as strategic, effective communications tools to convey health information and educate health consumers about risk factors, prevention steps, treatment, and recovery related to stroke and other diseases and disorders that disproportionately affect the Black community.