In this paper I test the methodological potential of a set of six questions, called the "What's the Problem Represented to be?," or WPR approach, borrowed from the field of discursive policy analysis (Bacchi, 2012a) for doing critical health communication (CHC) research. WPR is generative for critical health researchers because it shares the goal of challenging implicit and explicit causality and correlation within discourse. I apply these questions to examine the case of legalized medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in Canada, arguing that their simplicity and capaciousness facilitate critical responses to care disparities. This particular case is edifying for CHC researchers, because ideals of good living, "dignified" death, and the role of medicine are all crystallized within legal, media, and medical discourse on assisted dying. Debating what death can or should look like depends on a clearer understanding of how the logics of embodied difference (especially ability, race, and gender) are always already stacking the odds against equal political participation in, and access to health. The WPR approach flips the "proper objects" of health-centered critical research, beginning by scrutinizing proposed solutions in order to rethink the problems implicit therein. Asking such questions as "How has this representation of the "problem" come about?," "What effects are produced by this representation of the 'problem'?" and "How has it been (or could it be) questioned, disrupted and replaced?" productively situates the researcher between the discursive practices governing health and health care praxis itself. Ultimately, I argue that the WPR method encapsulates some of the best critical perspectives from the corpus of CHC research praxis, making it a helpful tool for advancing health communication research.

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Objectives COVID-19 has posed significant challenges to those who endeavour to provide equitable public health information and services. We examine how community leaders, advocates, and public health communication specialists have approached community engagement among Asian immigrant and diaspora communities in British Columbia throughout the pandemic. Methods Qualitative interviews with 27 participants working with Asian communities in a healthcare, community service, or public health setting, inductively coded and analyzed following the culture-centred approach to health communication, which focuses on intersections of structure, culture, and agency. Results Participants detailed outreach efforts aimed at those who might not be reached by conventional public health communication strategies. Pre-existing structural barriers such as poverty, racial disparities, and inequitable employment conditions were cited as complicating Asian diaspora communities’ experience of the pandemic. Such disparities exacerbated the challenges of language barriers, information overload, and rapidly shifting recommendations. Participants suggested building capacity within existing community service and public health outreach infrastructures, which were understood to be too lean to meet community needs, particularly in a pandemic setting. Conclusion A greater emphasis on collaboration is key to the provision of health services and information for these demographic groups. Setting priorities according to community need, in direct collaboration with community representatives, and further integrating pre-existing bonds of trust within communities into public health communication and engagement strategies would facilitate the provision of more equitable health information and services. This mode of engagement forgoes the conventional focus on individual behaviour change, and focuses instead on fostering community connections. Such an approach harmonizes with community support work, strengthening the capacity of community members to secure health during public health emergencies.

Background In Canada, vaccination that protects against pertussis and influenza is recommended in every pregnancy, but uptake remains low. Communicating the risks and benefits of vaccination is key to clinical conversations about vaccination, which may influence the uptake of pregnancy and subsequent infant vaccines. Canadian midwives use an informed choice model of care, which is distinct from informed consent and prioritizes client autonomy in decision‐making. Methods Using institutional ethnography, which treats lived experience as expertise, we aimed to understand how Canadian midwives, governed by intersecting professional standards and regulations, navigate vaccine discussions with their clients. We conducted interviews with individuals involved in midwifery training, regulation, and continuing education, as well as key public health professionals with expertise in immunization training. Following the phases of thematic analysis outlined by Braun and Clarke, data were analyzed holistically, emergent themes identified, and coding categories developed. Results Two types of confidence emerged as important to midwives' ability to conduct a thoroughly informed choice discussion about vaccines: confidence in vaccination itself (vaccine confidence), and confidence in vaccine knowledge and counseling skills (vaccine counseling confidence). A deferred or shortened vaccine discussion could be the result of either vaccine hesitancy or counseling hesitancy. Discussion Currently, available clinical communication tools and recommended techniques for addressing vaccine hesitancy do not always adapt well to the needs of midwives working to support clients' informed choice decisions. Our findings suggest that Canadian midwives require more and clearer resources on both the risks and benefits of vaccination in pregnancy.