Education
Title: Health Literacy
Information: What is "Health Literacy?" Where can I find more information about this subject? Health literacy basically refers to a person's ability to understand information regarding his or her own health care or the health care of someone else. Reading ability is one indicator of health literacy, but other skills are considered, too. These are: * the ability to listen and understand what is being said * the ability to speak and tell others about a health condition/concern * the ability to do arithmetic * the ability to understand concepts and ideas. In other words, all of one's communication skills contribute to one's ability to participate in health care decisions and take appropriate actions. They influence how well you can follow a health care provider's instructions, take medicines, file insurance forms, understand test results, etc. The Institute of Medicine published, "Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion," April 8, 2004. According to the IOM report, low health literacy affects an estimated 90 million people. You can read more about this report and find related resources at: http://www.iom.edu/report.asp?id=19723. The following websites and articles offer authoritative information and materials on this topic. The American Public Health Association conducted a national campaign last year, "National Public Health Week, April 5-11, 2004 - Eliminating Health Disparities: Communities Moving from Statistics to Solution." The next two resources were part of that campaign. * Fact Sheets: Disparities in Health Literacy, from Eliminating Health Disparities: Communities Moving from Statistics to Solutions, Toolkit, p. 30. National Public Health Week, April 5-11, 2004 - This fact sheet provides a quick overview of poor health literacy and its implications. http://www.apha.org/NPHW/facts/HealthLit-PHW04_Facts.pdf. * Health Literacy: Statistics and Solutions, from National Public Health Week, April 5-11, 2004 - You can find examples of communities in the United States that are trying to improve health literacy. http://www.apha.org/NPHW/pressroom/HealthLit_solutions.pdf. Hixon, Allen L. "Functional Health Literacy: Improving Health Outcomes," American Family Physician, May 1, 2004 - This article addresses issues of communication, literacy and health outcomes. http://www.aafp.org/afp/20040501/medicine.html "Health Literacy Overview" - This article on the American Medical Association's (AMA) website states that low health literacy can mean higher medical expenses. Check out the related AMA resources also. These include journal article abstracts, press releases and news items. By browsing the lists, you'll find materials suitable for the health care provider, as well as the general public. Journal articles may require subscription. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/8577.html The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Health Literacy Web Site. Here, you'll find another great list of linked resources on the topic of Health Literacy. http://www.hrsa.gov/quality/healthlit.htm Health Literacy Resources -The Medical Library Association, a professional organization those interested in medical and health science information provides this annotated index of authoritative resources on health literacy with a "Note: only noncommercial Websites are linked." http://www.mlanet.org/resources/healthlit/healthlit_resources.html Librarians, Health Information Professionals and Health Care Professionals may be especially interested in the following resources. Current Bibliographies in Medicine: Health Literacy - National Library of Medicine's comprehensive resource on "Health Literacy." Bibliography covers Jan. 1990 - Oct. 1999. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/cbm/hliteracy.html The Harvard School of Public Health: Health Literacy Studies Web Site. Available at:http:www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy. Accessed 12/29/04. - Health and education professionals with an interest in health literacy will find useful materials here. It includes an introduction, curricula, research reports, and links to resources. Sullivan, Eileen. Consumer Health: An Online Manual, NN/LM National Network of Libraries of Medicine, South Central Region - This resource is especially useful for consumer health librarians. http://nnlm.gov/scr/conhlth/hlthlit.htm, (page last modified: February 26, 2003.) Sharon Grant "Information Literacy and Consumer Health," July 2002, White Paper prepared for UNESCO, the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, and the National Forum on Information Literacy, for use at the Information Literacy Meeting of Experts, Prague, The Czech Republic. Available at:http://www.nclis.gov/libinter/infolitconf&meet/papers/grant-fullpaper.pdf. Ruth Parker and Gary L. Kreps. "Library Outreach: Overcoming Health Literacy Challenges." http://medstat.med.utah.edu/symposium/docs/ParkerKrepsOutreach.pdf. Your local school, public and medical libraries are also good places to learn more on this topic. Sincerely, Joyce W. Virtual Reference Librarian * Pathfinder created: 12/30/04
Category: Education