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To maintain their own health and the health of their families and communities, consumers rely heavily on the health information that is available to them. This information is at the core of the partnerships that patients and their families forge with today's complex modern health systems. This information may be provided in a variety of forms â€" ranging from a discussion between a patient and a health care provider to a health promotion advertisement, a consent form, or one of many other forms of health communication common in our society. Yet millions of Americans cannot understand or act upon this information. To address this problem, the field of health literacy brings together research and practice from diverse fields including education, health services, and social and cultural sciences, and the many organizations whose actions can improve or impede health literacy. Health Literacy: Prescription to End Confusion examines the body of knowledge that applies to the field of health literacy, and recommends actions to promote a health literate society. By examining the extent of limited health literacy and the ways to improve it, we can improve the health of individuals and populations.
Health literacy-the ability for individuals to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services to facilitate appropriate health decisions-is increasingly recognized as an important facet of health care and health outcomes. Although research on health literacy has grown tremendously in the past decade, there is no widely agreed-upon framework for health literacy as a determinant of health outcomes. Most instruments focus on assessing an individual's health literacy, yet the scope of health literacy reaches far beyond an individual's skills and abilities. Health literacy occurs in the context of the health care system, and therefore measures of health literacy must also assess the demands and complexities of the health care systems with which patients interact. For example, measures are needed to determine how well the system has been organized so that it can be navigated by individuals with different levels of health literacy and how well health organizations are doing at making health information understandable and actionable. To examine what is known about measures of health literacy, the Institute of Medicine convened a workshop. The workshop, summarized in this volume, reviews the current status of measures of health literacy, including those used in the health care setting; discusses possible surrogate measures that might be used to assess health literacy; and explores ways in which health literacy measures can be used to assess patient-centered approaches to care.
Advancing Health Literacy addresses the crisis in health literacy in the United States and around the world. This book thoroughly examines the critical role of literacy in public health and outlines a practical, effective model that bridges the gap between health education, health promotion, and health communication. Step by step, the authors outline the theory and practice of health literacy from a public health perspective. This comprehensive resource includes the history of health literacy, theoretical foundations of health and language literacy, the role of the media, a series of case studies on important topics including prenatal care, anthrax, HIV/AIDS, genomics, and diabetes. The book concludes with a series of practical guidelines for the development and assessment of health communications materials. Also included are essential techniques needed to help people make informed decisions, advocate for themselves and their community, mitigate risk, and live healthier lives.
rganized into four distinct sections, this book offers findings and raises questions to lead to progressive communication and investigation around the issue of health literacy in the context of the individual, the community, and patient-physician interaction.
With patient experience at the forefront of health care, effective communication of health messages is critical to quality care. This book offers proven strategies to help providers clearly explain health information to a variety of audiences, from patients and caregivers, to students and the public.
Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Health literacy addresses a range of social dimensions of health, including knowledge, navigation and communication, as well as individual and organizational skills for accessing, understanding, evaluating and using information. Particularly over the past decade, health literacy has globally become a major public health concern as an asset for promoting health, wellbeing and sustainable development. This comprehensive handbook provides an invaluable overview of current international thinking about health literacy, highlighting cutting edge research, policy and practice in the field. With a diverse team of contributors, the book addresses health literacy across the life-span and offers insights from different populations and settings. Providing a wide range of major findings, the book outlines current discourse in the field and examines necessary future dialogues and new perspectives.
Most healthcare providers know that health literacy is a major barrier to positive health outcomes, but regardless of good intentions they continue to simply present health information rather than promote deep patient learning. With Dr. Melissa N. Stewart’s unique, research-driven approach, The Art and Science of Patient Education for Health Literacy helps you make the shift from simply presenting health information to activating deep patient learning. Revised and thoroughly updated from Dr. Stewart’s Practical Patient Literacy: The MEDAGOGY Model, The Art and Science of Patient Education for Health Literacy equips both students and healthcare providers with the skills needed to engage patients' brains in order to help them understand their conditions and promote long-lasting behavior change. Based on the neuroscience of learning, this groundbreaking book is packed with abundant tools to teach students and practitioners how to negotiate effectively with patients about what they will and won't do to maintain and improve their health. Equipped with enhanced levels of health literacy, your patients will better understand their illnesses and become their own best healthcare advocates. UNIQUE! Focus on the author’s proven patient literacy model applies a reliable methodology to promote patient health and reduce hospital readmissions. Practical, patient-centered approach emphasizes how to help patients formulate their own healthcare goals to promote their own health. In-depth discussion of pedagogy and andragogy introduces how these concepts can be used to teach different patients and accommodate their educational needs. Case Studies promote reader engagement and active learning. Guidance on how to understand the patient’s emotional state and grieving process helps you understand when and how to best communicate health information. Handy tools such as the Patient Education Hierarchy, Informational Seasons, the PITS mode, and the UPP tool add direction to individual and/or team patient education efforts. UNIQUE! Research-driven approach based on the latest findings in the neuroscience of learning. NEW! Addresses the emergence of health literacy as a crucial issue for the future of high-quality healthcare. NEW! and UNIQUE! Incorporates the author's Self-Activation Tool to help patients activate their own learning. NEW! Colorful design and numerous illustrations promote reader engagement and active learning. NEW! Chapter-ending Key Points provide a focused self-check for each chapter. NEW! Broader focus on different health professions provides information for a wide range of caregivers.
Clear communication of your health message can make all the difference in effective patient care. Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message, Second Edition is an easy to use handbook designed for the busy health professional. Filled with ideas and strategies that can be used in everyday practice, Health Literacy from A to Z is a first-of-its-kind resource. Important Notice: The digital edition of this book is missing some of the images or content found in the physical edition.
Health literacy is the degree to which individuals can obtain, process, and understand the basic health information and services they need to make appropriate health decisions. According to Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion (IOM, 2004), nearly half of all American adults-90 million people-have inadequate health literacy to navigate the healthcare system. To address issues raised in that report, the Institute of Medicine convened the Roundtable on Health Literacy, which brings together leaders from the federal government, foundations, health plans, associations, and private companies to discuss challenges facing health literacy practice and research and to identify approaches to promote health literacy in both the public and private sectors. On November 30, 2010, the roundtable cosponsored a workshop with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles. Improving Health Literacy Within a State serves as a summary of what occurred at the workshop. The workshop focused on understanding what works to improve health literacy across a state, including how various stakeholders have a role in improving health literacy. The focus of the workshop was on presentations and discussions that address (1) the clinical impacts of health literacy improvement approaches; (2) economic outcomes of health literacy implementation; and (3) how various stakeholders can affect health literacy.