The following bullets are excerpts of some of NCI's research findings. Overall, medical research is seen as equal to or slightly more important than several other national issues such as making sure all Americans have health insurance, improving education, substance abuse prevention, and protecting the environment. High prevalence, likelihood of death, and the occurrence of great pain and suffering are reasons the public may rank a disease higher on the research agenda. After cancer, AIDS and heart disease were ranked as the next most important diseases to study, followed by Alzheimer's disease and birth defects. Word choice greatly influences how the public listens and responds to information.
People perceive nearly equivalent terms very differently.
For example, biomedical research is viewed as the study of genes using laboratory microscopes, whereas medical research is seen as involving doctors and patients and disease prevention and treatment. Certain words and phrases that are commonly used by the scientific community and the media are not well understood by the public and often carry negative connotations. Communicators should explain a health risk as clearly as possible because people are likely to dismiss confusing risk messages, using the ambiguity as an excuse for inaction. People react most positively to message concepts that emphasize that cancer affects everyone and that great progress is being made in cancer research. People have definite ideas about what they want to know about scientific research and cancer risk.