You can download a poster at www.genetionary.org/story
Using humor to reduce information avoidance of cancer risk? It actually works. In a 2024 study they used comics and humor to reach people who otherwise avoid colorectal cancer or other health messaging.*
Trust me, as a hereditary cancer advocate, I’d love to be sharing scorched-earth, profanity-filled rants about how my wife died horribly and needlessly of a cancer that was very, very preventable. But I have found that using a simple, lighthearted approach can garner more attention that a more serious, fact-heavy one. Or an angry one.
Anything related to cancer can be very scary. And, unfortunately, a lot people simply don’t understand basic genetics. To make things worse, these topics are often presented in ways that are too complicated and detached for many to understand. The way genetics and hereditary cancer are talked about desperately needs to change.
With DNA Day coming up on the April 25th, I figured this would be a good time to share this reworked and updated version of this simple and lighthearted introduction to DNA and its relationship to hereditary cancer. Please pass it along if you know of someone or some family that needs to see it.
*Reducing Information Avoidance: The effectiveness of humour, cute animals and coping messages from The British Psychological Society
https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjhp.12748
