Introduction
Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information. For patients, health literacy means being able to follow instructions from a doctor, nurse or pharmacist; manage a chronic illness; or take medication properly. For health care practitioners, it is about helping patients understand and act on health care information.
According to the Institute of Medicine Report titled Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion (2004), 90 million people have difficulty understanding and using health information. Studies also show that people from all ages, races, income, and education levels are challenged by this problem. Programs to promote health literacy should be sensitive to cultural and language preferences.
Frequently Asked Questions
Tools
Ask Me 3
Web site
Provides information about health literacy for health care providers, patients, employers, and the media and includes brochures in English and Spanish. Lists questions to ask a doctor, nurse, or pharmacist and tips to better understand personal health.
CDC: Health Literacy
Web site
Contains online health literacy training for public health professionals. CE credits in multiple disciplines are available.
Clinician-Consumer Health Advisory Information Network (CHAIN)
Web site
Provides information to health-care professionals, patients, family members, medical faculty, and others about emerging issues concerning the safe and effective use of drugs, devices, and biological products.
Effective Health Care Program
Web site
Provides reports from quality research in formats for consumers, clinicians, and policymakers. Several resources are available in Spanish.
Harvard School of Public Health: Health Literacy Studies
Web site
Serves as the research program of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, whose work is based in public health, health care settings, and adult education programs. Program maintains connections with public health and medical institutions, adult education programs, as well as to state departments of public health and education. Site is designed for professionals in health and education.
Health & Literacy Special Collection
Web site
Contains health curricula for literacy classes, resources to provide basic health information in simple language, resources in languages other than English, information about the link between literacy & health status, and links to organizations dedicated to health and literacy education.
Health Information in Multiple Languages
Web site
Provides access to consumer health information in languages other than English.
Health Information Partners: Resources on Health Literacy
Web site
Contains links to health literacy resources and recommended sites.
Health Literacy
Web site
Includes information on health literacy including definitions, skills needed for health literacy, background information, the role of the consumer health librarian, and health literacy programs.
Health Literacy and Cultural Competency: Research Findings
Web site
Provides links to research activities regarding health literacy and cultural competency from the years 2002-2005.
Health Literacy Improvement
Web site
Provides links to tools, government resources, plus reports and research to aid in improving health literacy.
Health Literacy Resources
Web site
Lists resources and tools that can be used to develop health literacy programs. Compiled by the Health Resources and Administration (HRSA) Health Literacy Work Group.
Health Literacy: American Medical Association
Web site
Contains tools to raise awareness of health literacy through toolkits, videos, and partnerships.
HRET Disparities Toolkit
Web site
Provides hospitals, health systems, clinics, and health plans information and resources for systematically collecting race, ethnicity, and primary language data from patients.
HRSA Health Literacy
Web site
Overviews health literacy issues with links to health literacy resources.
Is Our Pharmacy Meeting Patients' Needs?: Pharmacy Health Literacy Assessment Tool User's Guide
Web site
Provides tools to conduct a pharmacy health literacy assessment. Tools could be adapted for a rural pharmacy.
MLANET Health Information Literacy
Web site
Offers a collection of resources and documents on health literacy for health and information professionals and for health consumers.
Newest Vital Sign: A Health Literacy Assessment Tool
Other
Is a bilingual (English and Spanish) screening tool that helps to identify patients at risk for low health literacy.
NIH Senior Health: Helping Older Adults Search for Health Information Online
Web site
Serves as a toolkit for trainers that help older adults find reliable, up-to-date online health information on their own. Designed for beginner or intermediate students. Kit includes an introductory video, lesson plans, and other training tools.
Pfizer Clear Health Communication Initiative
Web site
Includes information and resources including what is health literacy, statistics, myths and reality, and signs of low health literacy.
Rhode Island Health Literacy Project
Web site
Provides many health literacy resources including a Health Literacy Provider Toolkit. Includes information for patients, cultural competency resources, and physician resources.
Su Familia National Hispanic Family Health Helpline
Web site
Provides Hispanic consumers free reliable and confidential health information in Spanish and English and helps navigate callers through the health system. Nationwide resources and local referral services are provided depending on the need of the caller.
Unified Health Communication 101: Addressing Health Literacy, Cultural Competency, and Limited English Proficiency
Tutorial
Serves as free online training. Course can be taken for credit (CEU/CE, CHES, CME, CNE) or not for credit. Course addresses health literacy, cultural competency and patient communication skills.
Virginia Adult Education Health Literacy Toolkit
Web site
Designed to help instructors and administrators better understand the problem of health literacy as it affects their adult learners. Provides resources to aid in curriculum and lesson plan development for use in adult health literacy education.
Regulations, Forms & Other Useful Documents
Accessible Health Information Technology for Populations with Limited Literacy: A Guide for Developers and Purchasers of Health IT
Author(s): June Eichner, Prashila Dullabh
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Designed to provide developers and purchasers of health information technology with structure, strategies, and other resources.
Date: 10 / 2007
America’s Health Literacy: Why We Need Accessible Health Information
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Summarizes; through bulleted text, charts, and graphs; key findings from and presents policy implications of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL).
Date: 2008
Assessing the Nation's Health Literacy: Key Concepts and Findings of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL)
Author(s): Sheida White
Sponsoring organization: American Medical Association
Describes the outcomes of the federal study, NAAL, and how its implications affect the health care of patients with limited health literacy.
Date: 2008
E-Health and the Elderly: How Seniors Use the Internet for Health Information
Author(s): Victoria Rideout, Tricia Neuman, Michelle Kitchman, Mollyann Brodie
Sponsoring organization: Kaiser Family Foundation
Reports and interprets key findings from a national survey of older Americans that was conducted to determine how seniors use the Internet for health information.
Date: 01 / 2005
E-patients With a Disability or Chronic Disease
Author(s): Susannah Fox
Sponsoring organization: Pew Internet and American Life Project
Discusses how adults living with a disability or chronic disease are less likely than others to look for health information online, but once online, they are avid health consumers.
Date: 10 / 2007
Family Health and Literacy
Author(s): Julie McKinney, Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi
Sponsoring organization: National Institute for Literacy
Includes health materials and websites with examples of how to integrate health and literacy education, how to get started and engage adult learners, and how to build connections between literacy programs and local health services.
Date: 2006
Health Literacy and Patient Safety: Help Patients Understand
Author(s): Barry D.Weiss
Sponsoring organization: American Medical Association
Discusses the problem of limited health literacy and its consequences for the healthcare system. Provides practical tips for clinicians to use in making their office practices more "user-friendly" to patients with limited health literacy, and give suggestions for improving interpersonal communication between clinicians and patients. Serves as a manual for clinicians.
Date: 06 / 2006
Health Literacy Fact Sheets
Author(s): Linda Potter, Constance Martin
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Care Strategies
Created for those designing patient education materials for consumers with low health literacy skills. The sheets define health literacy, describe its impact on health outcomes, provide strategies to prepare appropriate educational materials to assist low-literate consumers, and provide resources for additional health literacy information and publications.
Date: 08 / 2005
Health Literacy in a Rural Clinic
Author(s): Felecia G. Wood
Sponsoring organization: Rural Nurse Organization
Describes findings of a study assessing the health literacy of people seeking care in a rural health clinic in the southeastern United States.
Journal citation: Online Journal of Rural Nursing and Health Care Volume 5 Issue 1
Date: 2005
Health Literacy Practices in Primary Care Settings: Examples from the Field
Author(s): Sharon E. Barrett, Jennifer Sheen Puryear, Kathie Westpheling
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
Reports on the findings from a 2005 study in which the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved did an online survey of health care facilities across the country and then followed up with visits to five selected sites, including rural, for staff and patient interviews.
Date: 01 / 2008
Health Literacy Style Manual
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Designed to aid in developing and improving applications, notices, and other print materials related to government programs. Includes examples from real programs and can be used to make materials more client-centered, thus increasing consumers' capacity to find and understand health information and services and to make informed health-related decisions.
Date: 10 / 2005
Health Literacy: A Critical but Hidden Health Issue
Provides health literacy information and resources. Discusses the scope of the problem, the impact on health care, and populations at risk for low health literacy.
Journal citation: Volume 6 Issue 1 Pages: 2-5
Date: 2005
Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion
Sponsoring organization: Institute of Medicine
Examines the body of knowledge that applies to the field of health literacy, and recommends actions to promote a health literate society.
Date: 2004
Health Literacy: Program Brief
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Lists and describes research supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to improve health literacy as it pertains to prevention, healthy living, chronic disease management, patient-centered health care, cultural competence, and health disparities.
Date: 09 / 2007
Low Health Literacy: How It Impacts Your Patients & What You Can Do about It
Author(s): Jean Blackwell
Defines low literacy and identifies how low literacy affects the health status of adults.
Date: 01 / 2005
Measures of Health Literacy: Workshop Summary
Author(s): Lyla M. Hernandez
Sponsoring organization: Institute of Medicine
Summarizes workshop presentations and discussions related to measuring health literacy and assessing patient-centered approaches to care.
Date: 2009
MedlinePlus and the Challenge of Low Health Literacy: Findings From the Colonias Project
Author(s): Cynthia A. Olney, Debra G. Warner, Greysi Reyna, Fred B. Wood, Elliot R. Siegel
Sponsoring organization: Medical Library Association
Discusses the Colonias Project, an 18-month outreach project with the goal of increasing the usage of MedlinePlus and MedlinePlus en español and overcoming associated problems with health literacy in low-income, medically underserved Hispanic communities (colonias) along the Texas-Mexico border, where residents primarily speak Spanish.
Journal citation: Journal of the Medical Library Association Volume 95 Issue 1 Pages: 31-39
Date: 01 / 2007
Navigating Health: The Role of Health Literacy
Author(s): Ilona Kickbusch, Suzanne Wait, Daniela Maag
Sponsoring organization: Pfizer
Acts as a call to action for policymakers to make health literacy a central pillar in health policy discussions, research and action at an international, national, and local level.
Date: 2005
Poor Health Literacy Associated with Poorer Physical and Mental Health
Sponsoring organization: American Medical Association
Describes health problems that place limitations on daily activities and result in pain that interferes with normal work activities were more common among older individuals with poor health literacy.
Date: 09 / 2005
Quick Guide to Health Literacy
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
A guide to health literacy for government employees, grantees and contractors, and community partners working in healthcare and public health fields.
Date: 2007
What Did the Doctor Say?: Improving Health Literacy to Protect Patient Safety
Sponsoring organization: Joint Commission
Discusses health literacy issues which place patients at greater risk of preventable adverse events. Discusses how cultural, language, and communication barriers can potentially lead to misunderstandings between patients and their health care providers.
Date: 2007
Organizations
Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS)
Nonprofit/Foundation
Works to promote high quality health care services for low-income populations and people with chronic illnesses and disabilities.
Healthy Roads Media
Nonprofit/Foundation
Contains free health education materials in a number of languages and a variety of formats. Being developed to study the value of these formats in providing health information for diverse populations in a variety of settings.
National Institute for Literacy (NIFL)
National organization
Provides national leadership regarding literacy, coordinates literacy services and policy, and serves as a national resource for adult education and literacy programs.
Terms & Acronyms
Cultural Competency A competency based on the premise of respect for individuals and cultural differences, and an implementation of a trust-promoting method of inquiry.
Health Literacy The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.
Language Access Services (LAS) Services designed to ensure effective communication between limited English proficient individuals and English speakers. May include oral interpretation and written translation services and other provisions that enhance communication such as signage and symbols.
Limited literacy The inability to read or write above a 7th grade reading level, which would make it difficult to perform daily, necessary tasks.
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