It is often difficult for adults to give their doctors full and accurate accounts of their illness.  Doing so can be even more of a challenge for kids.  Here is an interesting experiment in which adolescents were given video cameras to capture their experience with asthma. 

Take a look at how these videos communicate far more than words can about these kids’ lives with asthma.

A more recent study uses the same approach to help overweight adolescents articulate their understanding of balancing nutrition and exercise (no videos up there yet): http://www.viaproject.org/ourwork/oar.asp

Jessie Gruman

Jessie Gruman heads the Center for Advancing Health, a Washington-based policy nonprofit funded by foundations to work on engagement: people will not benefit from the health care available to them unless they can participate fully and competently in it. Jessie draws on her own experience of treatment for four cancer diagnoses, surveys, research and interviews to advocate for policies and practices to overcome the challenges we all face in finding good care and getting the most from it.