Voices in Health Sociology, Vol. 1, No. 2
Nothing happens unless first a dream
On a sunny summer’s day somewhere in August 2020, I found myself pondering about the possibility of creating an audio podcast as a means of disseminating the results of the project we were writing a proposal for, together with my then yet-to-be research partner at ULiège, Beatrice Scholtes. Although the medium had been around for some time, the restrictions imposed by the pandemic were about to catalyse its popularity. Still quite unaware of the intricacies of actually creating a podcast, we decided that it would be an innovative way to disseminate our findings to anyone interested in the topic of benzodiazepines. And so we wrote that we aimed to develop “a series of podcasts in Dutch and French based on the main work packages. Each podcast will focus on a specific perspective, either that of patients or that of health care professionals. The aim of these podcasts is not only to disseminate our results to a broad audience, but also by doing so, to destigmatise dependence on benzodiazepines as BENZONET has clearly shown that this is one of the hinderances in seeking help to withdraw.” Hopeful, we submitted our proposal, which was approved for funding by BELSPO, the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office a few months later.
Why caring about benzo’s?
The project was a follow-up to a previous project called BENZONET [i]. In that study, we looked at the lived experiences of long-term users of sleeping pills and tranquillisers. This class of prescription medication – also known as benzodiazepine receptor agonists – is generally not recommended for more than two weeks at a time because of myriad side-effects, both during use and withdrawal. As we had only looked at the experiences of people living in Flanders and how they used online peer support to taper off, there were still some important gaps in the literature. The idea of BENZOCARE [ii] was born. In this follow-up study we wanted to address these issues by focusing on the experiences of patients in Wallonia, as well as those of health care providers who support patients during the often long and arduous tapering process. A central aim of the project was thus to study the ambiguous role of this medication and to analyse professionals’ as well as (recovered) users’ experiences with (de)prescribing.
A look behind the scenes
Fast forward to the spring of 2024: by then, Pauline van Ngoc had joined our core team, and the three of us found ourselves trying to implement the little paragraph about creating a podcast we had enthusiastically written a few years earlier. We soon found that the internet is full of tips and tricks on how to get started with podcasting. However, there are a few lesser-known insights that we’d probably share with our younger selves if we could.
I’ll start with an open door: a podcast is not an academic lecture or a conference presentation. Nor is it a group interview or a debate. In fact, it is not like any of the other dissemination formats we are used to as academics. We decided to opt for a storytelling podcast format, with fragments of a studio conversation and voice-overs recorded afterwards. For this formula, creating a storyline is a necessity. So, we teamed up with a professional podcast maker and storyteller who brilliantly guided us through the whole process (from brainstorming to final editing) [iii]. After several years of research, it was refreshing to have someone listen to our findings again and help us unravel the story we wanted to tell to our target audiences.
We ended up creating four mirrored episodes in French and Dutch, in which Pauline and I both interviewed a prescriber and someone with lived experience in tapering-off, in duo. As we were discussing a very sensitive subject, our first priority was to create a safe space both inside and outside the studio. The mental wellbeing of our guests was of paramount importance. We invited them to preparatory meetings and ensured they were comfortable with each other. We also felt it was crucial that the person with lived experience was sufficiently healed and able to reflect on the experience retrospectively. We made sure that we discussed the aims and expectations of the recording in detail with everyone beforehand. It is a delicate balance, as we did not want to stage our conversations, nor did we want to communicate all the precise questions in advance, in order to allow for spontaneity. We then applied the ethical principle of member checking to ensure that nothing was included against the wishes of the people involved.
Another thing that no one had told us before, is that voice training works like magic. As untrained presenters, Pauline and I received vocal coaching to record the voice-overs. A little worried that we would sound like actresses in a cheesy commercial, we gave it a go. The difference between before and after the training was remarkable.
Nothing -not even ample experience in squeezing rich analyses into the word limits of academic journals- could have prepared me for the amount of audio fragments we had to cut after recording. However, it was a necessary step to keep our story focused. So, allowing enough time to go through different versions and being prepared to kill your darlings turned out to be an absolute must. This was not the most pleasant part of the process -as we are all socialised to nuance rather than reduce but it meant we could get our message across to a wide audience in an accessible way. Equally important is having a critical friend outside of the project, as an initial audience to go through the draft version of an episode.
Finally, we found it important to also draw attention to the visual aspect of our story. We collaborated with an artist in graphic medicine [iv], who created a logo for our podcast that truly captures our story in one powerful yet delicate image.
Obviously, the dissemination of the actual podcast is equally important. For this we rely on the umbrella organisations in our follow-up committee and other partners. Meanwhile, the podcast has also been picked up by several media and will also be used as educational material for students in general practice.
Creating a podcast was definitely the furthest outside my professional comfort zone I’ve ventured so far. Yet it has allowed us to share our results with an audience that would otherwise never read the more classic academic output. All it took was a combination of a dedicated budget line, the right people, a bit of courage and a little optimism on a sunny pandemic day.
Do you speak French or Dutch? You can listen to the end result here: https://urls.fr/JQJiL1
This initiative was financed by BELSPO.
[i] Ceuterick, M., Christiaens, T., Creupelandt, H., Bracke, P. (2021) BENZONET: Perception, habitual use and cessation of BENZOdiazepines: a multi-method NETnography. Final Report. Brussels: Belgian Science Policy Office – 104 p. (Federal Research Programme on Drugs) https://www.belspo.be/belspo/drugs/project_docum_nl.stm#DR81
[ii] Ceuterick, M., Van Ngoc, P., Belche, JL., Bracke, P., Scholtes, B. (2024) BENZOCARE: Persons with a BENZOdiazepine/Z-drugs use disorder in mental health CARE. Final Report. Brussels: Belgian Science Policy Office – 109 p. (Federal Research Programme on Drugs) https://www.belspo.be/belspo/drugs/project_docum_nl.stm#DR91
[iii] https://carolineprevinaire.com/
[iv] https://octaviaroodt.com/
About the Author
Melissa Ceuterick
Melissa Ceuterick is a postdoctoral researcher at HEDERA (Health and Demographic Research), Ghent University, Belgium. In her PhD she focused on the impact of migration on traditional medicine use (Bradford University, UK). Her current research focuses on the intersections between medication use and identity and health-related stigma in all its possible forms. She coordinates and supervises mainly qualitative research in these areas and teaches health sociological topics. As of 2023 she is a member of the Advisory Board of the European Society for Health and Medical Sociology.