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TECHNICAL GUIDANCE

The Power of Storytelling: Guidance for the Creation of Testimonials

Source: Vital Strategies

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Overview

Source: Vital Strategies

Published: November 2024

A personal story can offer a potent tool to prompt behavior change and build support for public policy for tobacco control, healthier food environments, road safety, overdose prevention, alcohol policy, and other critical health concerns.

This guide shares decades of experience in providing first-person stories of survivors and witnesses—known as testimonials—as a means to connect with an audience on an emotional level and drive both behavior and public policy change to save lives. Throughout Vital Strategies' work in strategic health communication, across media channels from billboards to broadcast to online, the global health organization has found that stories of people’s experiences can change lives and norms for millions.

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