About This CD

This CD brings together key documents from the FrameWorks Institute's research on how Arizonans think about health care in general and prospective reforms in particular. This work was supported by St. Luke's Health Initiatives.

It has been extended and complemented by parallel research activity in California (funded by The California Endowment and California Wellness Foundation) and in New Hampshire (funded by the Endowment for Health and HNHfoundation). FrameWorks thanks these foundations for sharing relevant research and applications materials supported in their states. It is on the basis of the totality of this work that FrameWorks was able to make specific recommendations and to verify their impact. We strongly recommend reading the full range of research reports for deeper understanding of this issue.

Beginning in fall 2003, the FrameWorks Institute commissioned an integrated series of research projects, based on the perspective of strategic frame analysis, to determine how Arizonans think about health care and the problems facing the health care system. The goal of this communications research was to help health policy experts, analysts and advocates make the public case first for preserving existing health coverage programs and, second, for expanding Arizona residents' access to affordable health insurance and comprehensive health care services.

Importantly, this work does not seek to supplant, or substitute popular messages for needed remedies and proven policies but rather to translate those policies that health policy experts believe will improve Arizonans' health into language and concepts the public can grasp. Its point of departure is the policy range that experts agree will improve population health. Its ultimate destination is the wide array of groups and individuals who wish to elevate the importance of health care system reforms with community stakeholders, voters and policymakers. To that end, this CD includes not only the foundational research on public attitudes but also applications materials that model the translation process necessary to engage the public in solutions. By identifying specific practices that research suggests would advance public understanding, as well as those that are likely to impede it, the applications section of this CD is intended to help health care reformers advance the public dialogue.

The research and materials included on this disk reflect the perspective of strategic frame analysis, a multi-disciplinary multi-method approach to communications about social issues pioneered by the FrameWorks Institute and its research partners. Put simply, the way the news is "framed" on many issues sets up habits of thought and expectation - a dominant frame -- that is sufficiently powerful to impede reasoned deliberation and public understanding. When community leaders, service organizations and advocacy groups communicate to their members and potential adherents, they have options to repeat or break these dominant frames of discourse. Understanding which frames serve to advance which policy options with which groups becomes central to any movement's strategy. The literature of social movements suggests that the prudent choice of frames, and the ability to effectively contest the opposition's frames, lies at the heart of successful policy advocacy. A more extensive description of strategic frame analysis is available at www.frameworksinstitute.org.

A FrameWorks Message Memo offers insights across the research and makes specific recommendations about communications "do's" and "don'ts".

The Applications section includes model op/eds and responses to typical interview questions - all incorporating the FrameWorks message suggestions. Of special interest is a series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in which common answers are subjected to framing analysis and better answers suggested, all with reference to the research results.

To keep the learning going, a section on Resources offers more about framing.

This CD is copyrighted by the FrameWorks Institute. Standard rules of attribution and usage apply as to any intellectual property. Got questions? info@frameworksinstitute.org