Joshua Wright knows the value of listening in his role as an outreach coordinator for UW Carbone Cancer Center’s Cancer Health Disparities Initiative.
Wright is part of a team that engages Wisconsinites in conversations about cancer — the increased risks they may face based on environmental and biological factors and the healthy choices they can take to prevent or reduce their risks. The Cancer Health Disparities Initiative provides a specific focus on people who are typically underrepresented in cancer research and face hardships seeking health care.
By creating authentic relationships, Wright and members of the Cancer Health Disparities Initiative can put vital health information into a personalized context that resonates with their audience.
“I start with listening,” Wright said. “Listening is about building trust, and so if a person feels heard and believed and validated in their experience, they’re in a place to say, ‘OK, I hear you because you heard me,’ and we can move forward in having a collaborative discussion.”
Wright also hosts a podcast, Cancer Clear and Simple, to amplify their outreach mission and inspire more cancer conversations. The series, now in its second season, includes interviews with cancer patients sharing their treatment experiences as well as health professionals and advocates discussing cancer trends, emerging research and the ongoing work to improve health equity and save more lives.
Carbone’s Cancer Health Disparities Initiative team is focused on thoughtful, culturally sensitive outreach and education for communities where data shows a disproportionately higher cancer burden. In Wisconsin, the underserved communities include people living in rural areas and from African American, Latinx, American Indian, Hmong and LGBTQ+ communities.
Research shows these populations face barriers that lead to lower cancer screening rates and preventive care and, in turn, lead to higher rates of diagnoses and death from cancer. Factors that influence these trends include economic stability, education access, health care access, the environment where these people live and societal and community support.
Wright based the podcast’s voice on a community education curriculum developed at UW, also called Cancer Clear and Simple. The three tenets of this approach are explaining the basics of cancer in plain terms, how healthy lifestyle choices can reduce cancer risks and how different types of cancer screening work.
While the podcast is focused on community education, Wright also sees how it offers an opportunity for cancer care providers to hear personal experiences from cancer patients, reflect on how they interact with patients and think about ways to improve that experience. Similarly, he interviews cancer providers and researchers to show the personal stakes and goals of people working to improve cancer care and save lives.
“That’s part of my role at Carbone, to be a liaison, being able to translate what’s going on in research and be a bridge to the community,” Wright said.
Find all podcast episodes on the Cancer Clear and Simple website and streaming platforms Spotify, Apple and Amazon. Videos of the podcast are also available on Carbone YouTube.