Current Resources on Health Literacy

“Nearly 9 out of 10 adults have difficulty using the everyday health information that is routinely available in health care facilities, retail outlets, media, and communities.” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011)

“Health literacy is the ability to understand health information and to use that information to make good decisions about your health and medical care. Health information can overwhelm even people with advanced literacy skills. About one third of the adult population in the United States has limited health literacy.” (U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2011)

So health literacy is VERY important to health care. A patient who doesn’t understand instructions can’t follow them. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2011), “Lower health literacy was associated with poorer ability to demonstrate taking medications appropriately, poorer ability to interpret labels and health messages, and poorer overall health status among seniors.” We health care providers actually provide very little direct health care. We intervene and help folks over the hump of acute situations, but more often than not, we provide instructions and prescriptions. Most care is self-care.

Ready to learn more? Here are some great resources:

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2011). Health Literacy Interventions and Outcomes: An Updated Systematic Review: Executive Summary No. 199. Retrieved from http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/litupsum.pdf

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, & Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2010). Health Literacy Online: A guide to writing and designing easy-to-use health Web sites Available from http://www.health.gov/healthliteracyonline/Web_Guide_Health_Lit_Online.pdf or http://www.health.gov/healthliteracyonline/

Dewalt, D. A., Callahan, L. F., Hawk, V., Broucksou, K., Hink, A., & Rudd, R. (2010). Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit. Available from http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/literacy/healthliteracytoolkit.pdf

Websites with links to even more information:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health Literacy: Accurate, Accessible and Actionable Health Information for All. 2011, from http://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/

The Harvard School of Public Health. Health Literacy Studies Web Site. 2011, from http:www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy

National Network of Libraries of Medicine. Health Literacy. 2011, from http://nnlm.gov/outreach/consumer/hlthlit.html

The Plain Language Action and Information Network. Federal Agency Links about Health Literacy. 2011, from plainlanguage.gov http://www.plainlanguage.gov/populartopics/health_literacy/index.cfm

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Health Literacy. 2011, from http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/

U.S. National Library of Medicine. Health Literacy. 2011, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthliteracy.html

That should get you started . . .

©(2011) Fran London, MS, RN

One Response to “Current Resources on Health Literacy”

1. Susan Walker says:

   October 12, 2011 at 9:52 am

   Wow! I’m in the process of shifting gears from the general area of literacy (mostly for school children) to the more specific area