Resources You Can Use: Health Literacy Month

Posted by Sarah Levin-Lederer on October 18th, 2019 Posted in: Patient Engagement, Public Health
Tags: health disparities, Health Literacy, resources

---

October is Health Literacy Month! People working in health information use the term health literacy a lot. But what is health literacy and how can we improve it?  What resources are available to help support health literacy?

What is Health Literacy?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) defines health literacy as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions.” (Healthy People 2020)

Even with this definition, health literacy is a complex issue that is affected by many factors, but culture can be a major component with cultural backgrounds influencing belief systems, communication styles, and understanding and responses to health information (NLM-Health Literacy).

Health literacy also relies on many skills to process information on prevention, diagnosis, treatment and make decisions about the best course of action.  Skills include understanding health care services and insurance, calculating dosages and understanding treatment instructions, communicating with providers, evaluating the quality and credibility of information, understand results and locate health information.

A person’s ability to complete these tasks relay on literacy (visual and written), computer literacy (can use a computer and find information online), and numerical literacy (can calculate and reason with numbers).

How can we improve Health Literacy?

1. Nine out of 10 adults struggle to understand and use health information when it is unfamiliar, complex or jargon-filled.
2. Limited health literacy costs the healthcare system money and results in higher than necessary morbidity and mortality. (CDC-Talking Points about Health Literacy)

And like many aspects of medicine and healthcare, health literacy has disparities that contribute to disparities in outcomes. Older adults, English Language Learners, people with less than a high school education and disability may influence a person’s health literacy. (Healthy People 2020)

So what can we do?

• Read the National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy to find strategies and tools that you can use to support the people you serve
• Learn more about health communication including risk communication and writing health information in plain language
• Find health literacy organizations in your state
• Teach people skills to evaluate the quality and credibility of health information online
• Use MedlinePlus and other trusted resources designed to share health information in plain language when doing research on health, wellness and medical topics