Abstract
Our current social landscape is inundated with wellness crazes and so-called “miracle cures,” often perpetuated by celebrities and influencers online. Integrative health modalities such as Ayurveda, East Asian Medicine, nutrition science, and exercise science are being co-opted and appropriated by online personalities who rarely provide background and greater context around these practices. Perhaps even more dangerous is the promotion of wellness “hacks,” products, and supplements borne from poorly researched half-truths to monetize the pursuit of health and well-being.
The Commodification of Wellness
The term Wellness Industrial Complex refers to the commodification of wellness under capitalism. 1 As an industry, the wellness business is valued at over $5 trillion dollars, 2 which is greater than the value of the pharmaceutical industry. Women are the main targets of the wellness marketing machine, which promises access to health and beauty standards that society often expects of women. 3 Although the pursuit of health and wellness is well-intentioned, many consumers are being exploited to spend money on products and services from influencers and celebrities that promise miraculous results rather than consulting with trained integrative health professionals on long-lasting lifestyle changes.
Celebrities and social media influencers have enormous power to sway public opinion on wellness topics and encourage behavior changes and purchasing trends in the public. The behemoth Wellness Industrial Complex not only damages the reputation of valid, evidence-based integrative health practices but also puts consumers at risk of overspending on bogus products that may even cause adverse harm to one’s health.
Personal health literacy is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.” 4 Studies show that people with low health literacy are more likely to get their health information from television, social media, and celebrities. 5 Additionally, younger generations are more likely to trust the health information they encounter online as credible. 6 The onslaught of misinformation mixed in with reliable scientific information on social media makes it difficult for users to discern what is true and what is false. 7 Even credentialed medical professionals peddling panaceas, quick fixes, or one-size-fits-all recommendations should be met with significant skepticism.
How Integrative Health Experts Can Help
Many integrative health professionals share frustrations that the field of integrative health is being confused with popularized pseudoscience and half-truths being perpetuated online. Clinicians are now spending visits dispelling myths of what patients saw online and spending their already limited time debunking the latest “health hacks,” fad diets, or popular supplements. Even more challenging is explaining the nuance of these recommendations and the latest popular science, which may hold validity but are inappropriate for individual patients.
The trend of wellness influencers shows no sign of slowing down, so it is imperative that integrative health experts work to dispel myths and add legitimacy to the conversation in a way that is accessible to all people. Integrative health experts have not only the expertise but also the opportunity to help dispel myths and add legitimacy to the wellness discourse through the following communication methods: traditional media, social media, public education, and group medical visits. These methods are powerful tools to provide accurate information to the masses. Each section provides information on the method and tips for getting started.
Traditional Media
The media is a major force in shaping society and public opinion. Media outlets provide current news and information, offer commentary from various points of view, and are often responsible for setting the agenda in terms of what is considered important in our culture.
With the increasing popularity of integrative health topics, reporters are often looking for subject matter experts to help inform a story. Integrative health professionals are highly sought-after as sources on many wellness craze topics. These are opportunities to share legitimate, evidence-based health and wellness information that will reach a large audience. Interviews can take place privately with the reporter to then inform a story, or they can be prerecorded and broadcasted on public radio stations or on television.
Some media outlets will publish guest opinion articles from experts. If there is an integrative health topic that is being misrepresented in the public sphere, consider writing a well-informed column to set the narrative straight.
If you are interested in working with the media, contact the communications specialist at your institution to get started. This person can help make introductions to reporters and pitch original stories, when appropriate.
Social Media
Worldwide, there are over 5 billion people on social media, equating to 62.3% of the world’s population. 8 Health and wellness topics are often sighted in trend reports as key topics that users are engaging with, specifically among younger generations. The social media landscape is always evolving, and it is likely that the popular platforms of today will not be the popular platforms of tomorrow. However turbulent social media might seem, it is a powerful way to reach a broad range of people quickly and directly. Whereas traditional media requires editorial oversight, social media allows whomever to post whenever. This is a great advantage but also a great risk when it comes to the oftentimes rapid spread of misinformation. It is critical to have integrative health experts and institutions active on social media platforms to flood the landscape with legitimate information.
Social media is a powerful tool to share recently published articles and research, short videos to demonstrate meal preparation or exercises, or commentary on a wellness topic that is trending. Content created through traditional media channels can also be repurposed for social media. Additionally, social media can provide the opportunity for social connection and community-building by bringing together people with similar interests.
Integrative health practitioners can get involved in social media in a number of ways, including creating their own accounts on social media platforms (such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, or X) or by providing insight and expertise to their institution’s social media accounts, creating a podcast or guest-speaking on other people’s podcasts, and through blogs and email newsletters.
If you are new to social media, first determine what type of presence you would like to have online. Are you interested in making original videos and content? Then TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are good platforms to consider. Are you interested in sharing articles, commenting on relevant conversations, and connecting with a larger professional audience? Then X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and Facebook are good platforms to consider.
Before creating your own profile, look at other experts in your field to see who has a strong social media presence. This will give you inspiration for how to emulate successful social media profiles.
Developing a cadence is important for building an audience. Aim to allocate 20–30 min per week to post your own content and to engage with others’ content by liking, commenting, and resharing. Regular activity and engagement help to ensure that your content is seen by more people.
Public Education
Public education can take many different forms, such as public classes (lectures, symposia, educational courses, or webinars) and public education materials. Public education can happen in-person or virtually, depending on the needs of the community. Virtual courses and webinars have increased in popularity with the global adoption of virtual offerings during the COVID-19 pandemic and the ease of use offered by Zoom webinar and similar platforms. Virtual offerings also allow you to reach a diverse, global audience that you may not be able to access via in-person events and classes. Creating public education materials on integrative health topics is a powerful way to deliver evidence-based content from the local to the international level.
For example, the Osher Collaborative for Integrative Health is working to educate the general public through a free, annual symposium with rotating topics, whereas each Osher Center offers an array of public education offerings. The Osher Collaborative is also partnering with Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes to deliver learning modules and lectures on popular integrative health topics.
If you are interested in participating in public education programming, make yourself available to speaking opportunities and invites. If your institution hosts public programming, reach out to see if you can participate in a future event or chair a future course. You may be able to collaborate on a future series and influence the topic and content.
Group Medical Visits
Group medical visits are a series of clinical visits where clinicians meet with multiple patients at once who share a similar medical condition, either virtually or in-person, to discuss evidence-based integrative health strategies. In the context of medical decision-making, the group medical visit model encourages open dialogue, questions, and sharing of experiences to give people the tools to live a healthy lifestyle.
The group medical visit model allows clinicians to spend more time with patients, treat more patients, and increase patient satisfaction by delivering educational health information in a more personalized way. Patients are empowered to build a support system and learn through others’ shared experiences. Because these are medical visits and not public classes, they are often covered by insurance.
If you are interested in starting a group medical visit model, talk to your clinic leadership team to see if this is a viable format for your institution or if the group medical visit model is already being implemented in other clinical areas. You can also learn more about this clinical format from the Integrated Center for Group Medical Visits. 9
Looking Forward
Although many people are seeking and consuming health information with good intent, they are often inundated with fads, conflicting messages, and promotion of products from celebrities and influencers seeking monetary gain. With the increasing popularity of health and wellness on social media and the use of integrative health approaches, there are a multitude of opportunities for integrative health practitioners to engage with the community and provide evidence-based integrative health information, rather than getting lost in the “influencer noise.” A great first step is to connect with a communications professional in your organization to help you get started on one or more of the provided recommendations for engagement.
Authors’ Contributions
J.R.B contributed to conceptualization and draft preparation. D.C. and E.F. contributed to the review and editing.
Footnotes
Author Disclosure Statement
No competing financial interests exist.
Funding Information
No funding was received for this article.