Person-First Language (PFL) in Medical Communications: Usage and Awareness

This page contains a poster presented at the 19th Annual Meeting of ISMPP (International Society for Medical Publication Professionals), April 24-26, 2023.

Authors and affiliations

Shobana Ganesan^a, Ninad Ranade^a, Swapna Ganduri^a, and Namita Bose^a

^aCactus Life Sciences, Cactus Communications, Mumbai, India

Abstract

Objective: An important feature of a patient-centered care model is the use of patient-first language (PFL), which aims to avoid stigma by emphasizing the person over their disability or medical condition.^1-3 We assessed PFL usage in medical literature and awareness/perspectives among medical communications (medcomm) professionals.

Research design and methods: We conducted PubMed^® searches across 9 medical conditions in 5 therapy areas using predefined PFL and non-PFL terms. Five journals (across a range of impact factors) specific to each condition, identified on PubsHub™, were scanned for PFL‑specific guidelines. A 10-question awareness/perspectives survey was also conducted.

Results: Non-PFL usage was higher or similar to PFL usage in a majority of the conditions examined (5 of 9) (Table). Most journals did not have explicit guidelines for PFL usage. Of 121 survey respondents, 79% were aware of PFL and 69% believed in PFL’s ability to reduce stigma (Table).

Conclusions: Awareness and belief in PFL principles are high among medcomm professionals; however, proactive steps are needed to increase usage in medical literature.

Access more details of this study here.