October is Health Literacy Month. Health Literacy is defined as the ability to gather, understand, analyze, and act upon information and knowledge to promote and maintain personal, family, and community health and well-being (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).
In plain language, that means the ability for a person to understand and take the right action to make good health choices. Regardless of reading level, many consumers favor easy to read materials when they need help understanding their health care. This is why easy to read health care materials are necessary. In addition, people are responsible for making their own health decisions every day. Therefore, it is important that they not just understand the information, but learn how to effectively use the health information (MLA, 2005).
An estimated 90 million Americans have low health literacy, including many:
With lower socioeconomic status or education;
Who are elderly;
With low English proficiency (LEP) and/or who are non-native speakers of English; and
Who are receiving publicly-financed health coverage or other socio-economic assistance (Center for Health Care Strategies, 2013).
The Center for Healthcare Strategies has produced a series of fact sheets that address topics like identifying low health literacy and improving print and oral communications. The CORE Library also has a Research Guide with resources that can help you identify the reading level of patient health materials and provide tips on how to write your own.
October is Health Literacy Month. Health Literacy is defined as the ability to gather, understand, analyze, and act upon information and knowledge to promote and maintain personal, family, and community health and well-being (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).
In plain language, that means the ability for a person to understand and take the right action to make good health choices. Regardless of reading level, many consumers favor easy to read materials when they need help understanding their health care. This is why easy to read health care materials are necessary. In addition, people are responsible for making their own health decisions every day. Therefore, it is important that they not just understand the information, but learn how to effectively use the health information (MLA, 2005).
An estimated 90 million Americans have low health literacy, including many:
The Center for Healthcare Strategies has produced a series of fact sheets that address topics like identifying low health literacy and improving print and oral communications. The CORE Library also has a Research Guide with resources that can help you identify the reading level of patient health materials and provide tips on how to write your own.