The following two resources are regularly updated with health literacy research: 1 PubMed#N#external icon#N#(National Library of Medicine) 2 Roundtable on Health Literacy commissioned papers#N#external icon#N#(National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine)
Health Literacy Affects Everyone 1 They aren’t familiar with medical terms or how their bodies work. 2 They have to interpret statistics and evaluate risks and benefits that affect their health and safety. 3 They are diagnosed with a serious illness and are scared and confused. 4 They have health conditions that require complicated self-care. 5 They are voting on an issue affecting the community’s health and relying on unfamiliar technical information.
People do need strong literacy and numeracy skills to make it easier to understand and use health information and services. But, research shows that many health and healthcare activities are unfamiliar, complicated, and technical to most people.
Department of Education published the only national data on health literacy skills. The study found that adults who self-report the worst health also have the most limited literacy, numeracy, and health literacy skills.
emphasize people’s ability to use health information rather than just understand it. focus on the ability to make “well-informed” decisions rather than “appropriate” ones. incorporate a public health perspective. acknowledge that organizations have a responsibility to address health literacy. Health literacy is a complex phenomenon ...
The new definitions: emphasize people’s ability to use health information rather than just understand it. focus on the ability to make “well-informed” decisions rather than “appropriate” ones . incorporate a public health perspective. acknowledge that organizations have a responsibility to address health literacy.
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. Organizational health literacy is the degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, ...
The two interactive training modules— AHRQ's Making Informed Consent an Informed Choice: Training Modules for Health Care Leaders and Professionals —teach strategies that healthcare organizations and clinical teams can use to ensure that people understand their alternatives, including the option of not having any treatment. To learn about earning continuing education and continuing medical education via The Joint Commission's learning management system, visit The Joint Commission’s Improving the Informed Consent Process in the Hospital Setting .
The SHARE Approach, a train-the-trainer curriculum, supports the training of healthcare professionals on how to engage patients in their health care decisionmaking. Health literacy tools include: Health Literacy and Shared Decisionmaking: A Reference Guide for Health Care Providers and Communicating Numbers to Your Patients: A Reference Guide for Health Care Providers.
Social and Community Context. Health Literacy is a key issue in the Health and Health Care domain. 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.” 1 , ...
A number of factors impact health literacy including a patient’s receipt of appropriate written health communication materials, ability to accurately interpret written health-related information, and communication with providers.
Additional research is needed to increase the evidence base for what works to improve the effects of health literacy on health outcomes and disparities. This additional evidence will facilitate public health efforts to address health literacy as a social determinant of health.
Health literacy extends beyond the patient themselves. “It is the ability of patients, caregivers , family members and the public to understand what doctors and other health care providers are communicating,” says Deann Jepson, senior program director at Advocates for Human Potential. Health literacy is an essential skillset for anyone who interacts ...
Health literacy skills allow patients to take control of their own well-being by making smart healthcare choices, improving their communication with doctors and giving them the information they need to advocate for themselves in a medical setting. Without health literacy, patients can suffer real consequences.
“Low health literacy is also costly for the country because when people don't understand health information and instructions, they are more likely to have worse health outcomes and unnecessarily use emergency room services ,” Blue says.