{"id":16984,"date":"2026-10-14T09:12:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T14:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/?p=16984"},"modified":"2026-10-14T09:12:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T14:12:05","slug":"october-is-health-literacy-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/2026\/10\/october-is-health-literacy-month\/","title":{"rendered":"October is Health Literacy Month"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"16986\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/2026\/10\/october-is-health-literacy-month\/hlm-spotlight\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/hlm-spotlight.png?fit=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"300,300\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"hlm-spotlight\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/hlm-spotlight.png?fit=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-image-16986 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/hlm-spotlight.png?resize=202%2C202&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Health literacy empowers informed health decisions\" width=\"202\" height=\"202\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/hlm-spotlight.png?w=300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/hlm-spotlight.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/>October is Health Literacy Month! We\u2019ve compiled some resources to help you and your organization improve health literacy.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">Health literacy has two parts:\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559683&quot;:0,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Personal health literacy <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">is the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559683&quot;:0,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Organizational health literacy <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">is the degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.<\/span> (<a href=\"https:\/\/odphp.health.gov\/healthypeople\/priority-areas\/health-literacy-healthy-people-2030\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Healthy People, 2030<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">)<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233279&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Health literacy intersects with digital literacy and numerical literacy, as well as with a range of individual, socioeconomic, and cultural factors. <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">These factors can influence how easily people find, understand, and use health information and services.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Health literacy affects health decision making and utilization of services. Limited health <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">literacy is associated with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21768583\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">poorer health outcomes<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">It can be easy to focus on health literacy as an individual&#8217;s set of abilities, but there is a real need to improve health literacy at the organizational level. Improving organizational health literacy requires health organizations and providers to think about <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">who<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\"> faces barriers to finding, understanding, and using health information, and <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">how <\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\">the organization can design health communication materials and services for them. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:161,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"TextRun MacChromeBold SCXW74936502 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW74936502 BCX0\">Tools for <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW74936502 BCX0\">improving organizational health literacy<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP Selected SCXW74936502 BCX0\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/medlineplus.gov\/pdf\/HealthEducationMaterialsAssessmentTool.pdf\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Health Education Materials Assessment Tool<\/span><\/a> <span data-contrast=\"none\">is a tool from the National Library of Medicine to help you figure out if a material can be designated as \u201ceasy-to-read.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ahrq.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/files\/pemat-p.pdf\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">PEMAT<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">, the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool, is a systematic method to evaluate and compare the <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">understandability<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\"> and <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">actionability<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\"> of patient education materials. Produced by the AHRQ, it is designed as a guide to help determine whether patients will be able to understand and act on information. There is a version of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ahrq.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/files\/pemat-p.pdf\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">PEMAT for printable materials<\/span><\/a> <span data-contrast=\"none\">and a version of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ahrq.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/files\/pemat-av.pdf\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">PEMAT for audiovisual materials<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ogg.osu.edu\/media\/documents\/health_lit\/HOSAM2006.pdf\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM)<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> is a systematic tool used to evaluate health education materials. It assesses factors such as content, literacy demand, graphics, layout, and cultural relevance to determine whether materials are <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">understandable<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\"> and <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">accessible<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\"> to the target population.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/odphp.health.gov\/healthliteracyonline\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Health Literacy Online<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">, from the Department of Health and Human Services, offers instructions on how to <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">write and create user-friendly digital health information and services. This research-based guide discusses <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">why<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\"> and <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">how<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\"> to design health websites and other digital health information products for a range of audiences, including those with low health literacy.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ahrq.gov\/health-literacy\/publications\/ten-attributes.html\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Ten Attributes of Health Literate Health Care Organizations<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">.<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> The AHRQ outlines ten attributes of health literacy organizations, along with links to AHRQ resources that can assist in each attribute. Based on the paper <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nam.edu\/perspectives\/ten-attributes-of-health-literate-health-care-organizations\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Ten Attributes of Health Literate Healthcare Organizations<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"TextRun MacChromeBold SCXW85054243 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW85054243 BCX0\">Health literacy <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW85054243 BCX0\">webinar<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW85054243 BCX0\"> recordings<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW85054243 BCX0\"> from NNLM<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"EOP Selected SCXW85054243 BCX0\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KOtHTnugX3A\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Health Communication and Health Literacy: Understanding the Connection<\/span><\/a> <span data-contrast=\"none\">addresses how you can improve communication materials and spoken communication to improve health literacy.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nnlm.gov\/training\/class\/measurements-health-literacy\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Measurements of Health Literacy<\/span><\/a> <span data-contrast=\"none\">explores the dual nature of health literacy measurement: assessing the understandability of written materials and evaluating an individual\u2019s ability to comprehend and apply health information. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:false,&quot;134245529&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_cnyyjNucSQ\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Health Literacy of People Living with Mental Health or Substance Use Disorders<\/span><\/a> <span data-contrast=\"none\">sheds light on the health literacy of individuals living with mental health and substance use disorders, offering practical tools and next steps to address the health literacy of this population.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=c_rkN-kSVa0\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Providing Multilingual Health Information<\/span><\/a> <span data-contrast=\"none\">covers how to locate and provide health information in languages other than English.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xQ7V5l5Utyk\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Designing for Health Literacy: Exploring Technologies to Support Health Information Access<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> explores emerging technologies to support older adults&#8217; health information access and management.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-aMzPXsZqGs\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Health Literacy! It Just Got Graphic<\/span><\/a> <span data-contrast=\"none\">looks at how to use graphic medicine to improve health literacy for all ages.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:false,&quot;134245529&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>October is Health Literacy Month! We\u2019ve compiled some resources to help you and your organization improve health literacy.\u00a0Health literacy has two parts:\u00a0\u00a0 Personal health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.\u00a0 Organizational health literacy&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/2026\/10\/october-is-health-literacy-month\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2968,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[151],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8NC9K-4pW","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2968"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16984"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16990,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16984\/revisions\/16990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}