Health Literacy Library - Articles
(download the free Adobe Reader)
Promoting Health Literacy
Concept, Measurement & Intervention
Health
Literacy and Depression in the Context of Home Visitation
Sandra A. Smith • Elizabeth
J. Moore
From
Maternal and Child Health Journal-Volume 15 Number 1
Abstract: We explored health literacy in parents as an
underlying construct that develops through social interaction and reflection
and involves an array of skills that enable a parent to manage personal and
child health and healthcare. We hypothesized that depression impairs health
literacy and impedes efforts to promote health literacy through home
visitation.
Promoting Health Literacy through Reflective Practice
Sandra
Smith presented this workshop at the Parents As Teachers Annual
Conference November 8, 2011. You can view the slides and handouts. It
will be most effective to use the
Do-It-Yourself Handout along with the
slides. Look for white numbers on the slides. They refer to the number of the
question(s) on the DIY Handout that is answered on that slide. The
teaching story illustrates a home visitor using Dynamic Tension (David Emerald,
Power of TED*)
to promote health literacy through reflective practice. The story is
true and the characters are real. The story was written as part of an
independent review of evidence on Dr Smith’s NIH/AHRQ-funded research
titled
“Does Home Visitation Promote Maternal Health Literacy?" Please note these are copyrighted materials. No reproduction or reuse is permitted without prior written permission.
More on Health Literacy and Home Visiting
Are Beginnings Guides suitable for your families?
SAM - Suitability Assessment of Materials
This instrument offers a systematic method to objectively assess the
suitability of health information materials for a particular audience
in a short time. SAM guides you to rate materials on factors that
affect readability (the relative difficulty of decoding the words and
comprehension (the relative difficulty of understanding meaning) in six
areas.
(read the whole article)
Reviewer's Guide to Evaluating Health Information Materials — Abstract
The purpose of this Guide is to aid the reviewer to check
the fit between health information material and the learners who will
use the material. The first step is to profile the learners. Next, the
Guide asks you to visualize the learners using the material so you can
work from their point of view. The Reviewer's Checklist guides you to
consider attributes that make materials suitable and effective for a
particular learner population.
(read the whole article)
Home Visiting Programs Provide Opportunity for Enhancing Health Literacy. From the Northwest Bulletin. Parents in home visitation are new healthcare decision makers for growing families. As a population, they are characterized by poverty, low education, low literacy, and limited access to care —a recipe for low health literacy. - Sandra Smith
Community-Based Doula's Make a Difference in Indiana — Abstract
The Indiana Perinatal Network is collaborating with the
Healthy Families Indiana MOM Project to implement the Community-Based
Doula program in Indianapolis, Indiana... The doulas are committed to
positively impacting the lives of the families they serve, and the
Beginnings Guides have helped make this possible.
(read the whole article)
Help Dr. Mom avoid overdoses of Tylenol — Abstract
Tylenol is safe, effective, and popular. And overdoses can
cause nausea and liver damage. Sixty-six US regional poison control
centers reported administering an antidote in 10,000 cases of
acetaminophen overdose. Part of the problem is in packaging and health
literacy. Parents with low literacy skills often have difficulty
determining proper doses.
(read the whole article)
FONBAYS: A Simple Method for Enhancing Readability of Patient Information
José J. Calderón, Sandra Smith, and Richard S. Baker - Abstract
The article introduces FONBAYS, a tool that will help
determine readability by revealing words that, when used in writing,
create long, run-on sentences. FONBAYS is an acronym meaning: For, Or,
Nor, But, And, Yet, So. In essence, when you come across a FONBAYS
word, it is your signal to replace the word with punctuation. The
result is a reduction in complex sentences, which increases readability.
Available on the
ABSAME website.
Patient Education and Literacy — Abstract
This chapter describes two literacy problems plaguing the
health care system at the turn of the millennium: hypoliteracy and
hyperliteracy. Hypoliteracy (low literacy) refers to undeveloped or
atrophied literacy skills. Hypoliteracy negatively affects health
through lack of knowledge, resources, and empowerment. Hypoliteracy
leaves patients unable to make sense of clinicians’ instructions and
unprepared to marshal the resources of an increasingly complex and
technological health care system. Hyperliteracy refers to extremely high
literacy, which can leave clinicians unable to communicate effectively
with most patients. This chapter focuses on information necessary to
clinicians to assist patients with low literacy levels while improving
communication to all patients. After reading this chapter, providers
will have:
- Explored communication gaps resulting
from mismatches in logic, language and experience, that is, differences
in the ways clinicians and patients think and talk about health and
illness, and differences in their experience of the health care system;
- Considered universal precautions to
bridge communication gaps and help all patients understand, recall, and
act on information about their conditions, treatments, self-care, and
self-management about their conditions, treatments, self-care, and
self-management;
- Reviewed their legal responsibility and
considered methods to communicate effectively with all patients in a
language the patients can understand;
- Identified resources for managing education for patients of all literacy levels. (read the full chapter)
Rethinking Health Literacy — Abstract
In the US the term health literacy is used to describe and
explain the relation between patients’ reading skills and their ability
to comply with prescribed therapeutic regimens. These fundamental but
narrow definitions flow from school-based concepts of literacy and miss
much of the deeper meaning and purpose of literacy in adult life. They
exclude the concept of functional literacy promoted by the 1992
National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) and the 2003 National Assessment
of Adult Literacy (NAAL). The literature from other disciplines and
nations presents broader definitions of health literacy, which suggest
that social support may determine whether low health literacy actually
leads to negative outcomes. This article reviews current concepts of
health literacy in the US, explores other views, and discusses
implications for practice and future research.
How to Evaluate Educational Reading Material — Abstract
Information is like medication. It can increase the
effectiveness of most treatments, if it is appropriate to the condition
and the patient, and if it does not conflict with something else the
patient already is taking. Information you dispense must be compatible
with your organizational philosophy and style, risk management
practices, and budget. Giving your patient/client materials that she
will not read or cannot understand amounts to an expensive gesture.
Consider first the factors that determine the reader's ability to learn
and incorporate new knowledge and behaviors into everyday living:
- Appearance
- Reading Level
- Comprehension
- Accuracy
Developing Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Health Education Materials
— Abstract
This article reports results of pilot testing methods to
evaluate the suitability of health education materials adapted from
English source documents to serve non-English learners. We worked
directly with monolingual Spanish speakers to adapt pregnancy health
information to serve Spanish-speaking women in the United States. The
project aimed to ensure that women of diverse cultures and varied
literacy skills have access to essential prenatal care information
according to practice guidelines for the United States and Canada, via a
tested process for verifying the suitability of translated and
tailored information. Specifically, the aim was to increase access to
key messages linked to positive birth outcomes (Kogan et al. 1994,
Davis & Akridge 1987, Libbus & Sable 1991).
Health Literacy — Abstract
This pre-publication chapter from The Behavioral Sciences and
Health Care (2nd Edition) presents an overview of literacy and
functional health literacy and their impacts on health and healthcare.
1. What is literacy?
2. How is literacy measured and reported?
3. How are literacy and health linked?
4. What is health literacy?
5. What limits and promotes health literacy?
6. Enhancing readability of health information
© Calderon, J.L., & Smith, S.A. (2007)
Health Literacy. In: Sahler, O.J.Z., & Carr, J.E. (Eds.) The
Behavioral Sciences and Health Care (2nd edition). Cambridge, MA:
Hogrefe & Huber (Prepublication Copy)
(read the whole article)
Information Giving: Effects on Birth Outcomes and Patient Satisfaction — Abstract
Production pressures make it increasingly less feasible for
prenatal care providers to engage in meaningful information giving
according to national guidelines. Managed care organizations rely on
printed materials to augment information historically provided orally
by physicians. This study examines the effects of mailing supplemental
health information to mothers at home. Results of an anonymous
post-delivery survey indicate that supplemental information giving
increases patient satisfaction and recall of key messages linked to
birth outcomes. (
read the whole article)
Home Visiting Programs Provide Opportunity for Enhancing Health Literacy. From the Northwest Bulletin by Sandra Smith. Parents achieved significant improvement in health literacy scores after six months of home visiting, regardless of reading level, and scores continued to improve over time. Teens started at a significant disadvantage but improved quickly to achieve parity with their older counterparts. Parents with the lowest reading skills made the greatest gains. These findings support enhanced home visitation as an effective channel for empowering parents to better manage personal and child health and health care.
(read the whole article)
Functional Health Literacy and the use of Dental Services in Young Children by Melissa Paige-Fries, B.S., DDS
