Health Literacy: Statistics At-A-Glance. The Partnership for Clear Health Communication at the National Patient Safety Foundation. Accessed March 21, 2011. http://www.npsf.org/.
This factsheet contains an overview of health literacy statistics in the United States. Published by the National Patient Safety Foundation, it is not an exhaustive description of low health literacy, but it provides a starting point to understand what it is and how many people it impacts.
Health literacy is defined as the ability to read, act, and understand health materials. Low health literacy cuts across all ages, socioeconomic statuses, and ethnicities, although it disporportionately affects minorities and the elderly.
The factsheet points out that medical noncompliance may be linked to low health literacy. About half of all patients don't take their medication as directed, and people with low literacy skills were 50% more likely to be hospitalized. The factsheet also states that the annual healthcare costs for people with low literacy are approximately four times higher than those with higher literacy skills.
This factsheet contains an 8-item bibliography with more information about low literacy and how it affects health care. The articles listed are mostly from well-known medical journals and healthcare organizations. The factsheet also routes the user back to the National Patient Safety Foundation website. This is a well-regarded organization in the American health care industry, so I feel like I can trust the information they publish. This factsheet would make a good supporting document within a bibliography, although it does not describe how to improve the problem of low health literacy.
Showing posts with label low-literacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label low-literacy. Show all posts
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Participatory design in health communiction
Neuhauser, Linda. “Participatory Design for Better Interactive Health Communication: A Statewide Model in the USA.” The Electronic Journal of Communucation 11, no 3 and 4(2001). http://www.cios.org/EJCPUBLIC/011/3/01134.html (accessed March 21, 2011).
This journal article describes how families and people with disabilities worked with the state of California to create a hard-copy and online wellness guides. The state identified three primary goals for the health information. It must
-have content relevant for people with diabilities
-connect the user with local services
-be accessible to users with diabilities, 6th grade literacy levels, and those who read Spanish.
The hard-copy materials were developed first, with the websites following 10 years later. The website took 4 years to produce. The state took great care to find a representative sample of end users, including parents in the correctional system. Hundreds of people with diabilities were also involved in the design of the print and online guides, which marked a departure from the previous process. In the past, people with disabilities weren't considered "typical" users of materials, and were excluded from the design process. All too often, content is developed for a specific culture or language, and the organization forgets about the unique needs of people with disabilities, who represent every culture and language possible. It is heartening to see the inclusion of this often-marginalized group in this particular design process.
While the content developed for the state of California aren't as relevant to my research question, this article offers a tremendous amount of information regarding the history of participatory design and why it is an effective way to create information for a specific audience. Neuhauser even states that when people help organizations design health information, it positively impacts their health. Participation increases self-control and self-efficacy. Perceived sense of self-control is noted as a variable that is closely linked to health status. A high sense of self-control is linked with better health.
Neuhauser links participatory design to accessibility, usability and participatory action research. Remote She also provides a long bibliography and a number of related websites that are very helpful for someone seeking to learn more about participatory design and related methods.
This journal article describes how families and people with disabilities worked with the state of California to create a hard-copy and online wellness guides. The state identified three primary goals for the health information. It must
-have content relevant for people with diabilities
-connect the user with local services
-be accessible to users with diabilities, 6th grade literacy levels, and those who read Spanish.
The hard-copy materials were developed first, with the websites following 10 years later. The website took 4 years to produce. The state took great care to find a representative sample of end users, including parents in the correctional system. Hundreds of people with diabilities were also involved in the design of the print and online guides, which marked a departure from the previous process. In the past, people with disabilities weren't considered "typical" users of materials, and were excluded from the design process. All too often, content is developed for a specific culture or language, and the organization forgets about the unique needs of people with disabilities, who represent every culture and language possible. It is heartening to see the inclusion of this often-marginalized group in this particular design process.
While the content developed for the state of California aren't as relevant to my research question, this article offers a tremendous amount of information regarding the history of participatory design and why it is an effective way to create information for a specific audience. Neuhauser even states that when people help organizations design health information, it positively impacts their health. Participation increases self-control and self-efficacy. Perceived sense of self-control is noted as a variable that is closely linked to health status. A high sense of self-control is linked with better health.
Neuhauser links participatory design to accessibility, usability and participatory action research. Remote She also provides a long bibliography and a number of related websites that are very helpful for someone seeking to learn more about participatory design and related methods.
Improving comprehension in patients with low literacy
Ip, Melissa. “Keys to Clear Communication: How to Improve Comprehension Among Patients with Limited Health Literacy.” Today’s Dietician 12, no 5 (May 2010). http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/050310p26.shtml (accessed March 21, 2011).
In this article from Today's Dietician, Melissa Ip describes techniques dieticians and other health professionals can use when communicating concepts to patients. Ip cites an Institute of Medicine Report that found that most consumers of health information don't understand what has been written for them. She also states that nearly 40% of Americans have basic or below basic literacy levels. Minority populations, older adults, and people with a limited income are most at risk of low literacy.
Ip outlines ways to assess a patient's health literacy level, including using the REALM-R (a literacy assessment tool for adults who speak English). She also notes that health literacy is affected by a variety of other factors, including visual literacy, numeracy, computer skills, and visual, audittory, and cognitive factors. Some experts recommend taking a "universal precautions" approach, where the health professional assumes that all patients have trouble understanding health information.
Ip makes an inportant point when addressing health materials translated into a patient's native language. People from different cultures/ethnicities may have limited literacy in their native language. Also, direct translations from English may not be culturally relevant to the end user.
This article provides a laundry list of methods that health professionals can use to better ccommunicate with their patients. It does cover the use of visuals, stating that using pictures in health education materials can increase comprehension and recall. While probably most useful for a health writer or health professional, this article cites many statistics about health literacy, and provides practical methods for creating effective health materials for patients.
In this article from Today's Dietician, Melissa Ip describes techniques dieticians and other health professionals can use when communicating concepts to patients. Ip cites an Institute of Medicine Report that found that most consumers of health information don't understand what has been written for them. She also states that nearly 40% of Americans have basic or below basic literacy levels. Minority populations, older adults, and people with a limited income are most at risk of low literacy.
Ip outlines ways to assess a patient's health literacy level, including using the REALM-R (a literacy assessment tool for adults who speak English). She also notes that health literacy is affected by a variety of other factors, including visual literacy, numeracy, computer skills, and visual, audittory, and cognitive factors. Some experts recommend taking a "universal precautions" approach, where the health professional assumes that all patients have trouble understanding health information.
Ip makes an inportant point when addressing health materials translated into a patient's native language. People from different cultures/ethnicities may have limited literacy in their native language. Also, direct translations from English may not be culturally relevant to the end user.
This article provides a laundry list of methods that health professionals can use to better ccommunicate with their patients. It does cover the use of visuals, stating that using pictures in health education materials can increase comprehension and recall. While probably most useful for a health writer or health professional, this article cites many statistics about health literacy, and provides practical methods for creating effective health materials for patients.
Using visuals to make health materials more clear
Osborne, Helen. “In Other Words…Using Visuals and Other Creative Tools to Make Health Messages Clear.” On Call Magazine (May 8, 2008). http://www.healthliteracy.com/article.asp?PageID=7409 (accessed March 21, 2011).
In this artice from the now defunct On-Call magazine, health literacy expert Helen Osborne describes real-life examples of how different cultures perceive visuals differently. One example she cites involves a Peace Corps volunteer who used a projector to teach residents in a rural village in Columbia about the dangers of malaria. He showed several enlarged images of mosquitoes to the villagers. At the end of his presentation, the villagers told the volunteer they didn't have a problem with mosquitoes because the ones they had were not as big as the ones shown using the projector.
Osborne also cites practical methods that writers and educators can use to make their visuals more effective to the end user. Osborne suggests teaching end users what the visuals mean. Simply creating a visual and giving it to a user can lead to misinterpretation, which can have harmful results in the field of healthcare. Osborns also recommends using line drawings rather than photographs, as photographs often contain too much information that can overwhelm and distract the audience. Combining visuals with another method, such as songs, radio announcements, and contests help users better understand and apply what they have learned. These methods also reach users outside of the target audience, which can help reinforce the concept being taught (children hearing a health message on the radio may ask their parents for more information, and the parents may teach the child about the concept).
Helen Osborne is a nationally well-known health literacy expert, and has written 5 books regarding the importance of health literacy, and how best to communicate with patients. She used to write a column for On-Call magazine, published by the Boston Globe. Her personal website is full of articles and poscasts designed for health professionals and writers. This article is useful to my research as it cites specific examples of how people with low literacy, or people from different cultures understand visuals differently. While it doesn't specifically mention participatory design, she describes methods for creating visuals that involve the end user.
In this artice from the now defunct On-Call magazine, health literacy expert Helen Osborne describes real-life examples of how different cultures perceive visuals differently. One example she cites involves a Peace Corps volunteer who used a projector to teach residents in a rural village in Columbia about the dangers of malaria. He showed several enlarged images of mosquitoes to the villagers. At the end of his presentation, the villagers told the volunteer they didn't have a problem with mosquitoes because the ones they had were not as big as the ones shown using the projector.
Osborne also cites practical methods that writers and educators can use to make their visuals more effective to the end user. Osborne suggests teaching end users what the visuals mean. Simply creating a visual and giving it to a user can lead to misinterpretation, which can have harmful results in the field of healthcare. Osborns also recommends using line drawings rather than photographs, as photographs often contain too much information that can overwhelm and distract the audience. Combining visuals with another method, such as songs, radio announcements, and contests help users better understand and apply what they have learned. These methods also reach users outside of the target audience, which can help reinforce the concept being taught (children hearing a health message on the radio may ask their parents for more information, and the parents may teach the child about the concept).
Helen Osborne is a nationally well-known health literacy expert, and has written 5 books regarding the importance of health literacy, and how best to communicate with patients. She used to write a column for On-Call magazine, published by the Boston Globe. Her personal website is full of articles and poscasts designed for health professionals and writers. This article is useful to my research as it cites specific examples of how people with low literacy, or people from different cultures understand visuals differently. While it doesn't specifically mention participatory design, she describes methods for creating visuals that involve the end user.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Developing Health and Family Planning Print Materials for Low-Literate Audiences: A Guide
Zimmerman, Margot, Nancy Newton, Lena Frumin, and Scott Wittet. Developing Health and Family Planning Print Materials for Low-Literate Audiences: A Guide. (Seattle, WA: Program for Appropriate Technology in Health [PATH], 1996).
This manual is specifically geared towards organizations looking to create their own print materials. The manual outlines the techniques used by an organization called Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) to communicate to illiterate and low-literate people. The manual states that PATH’s techniques have been used in over 40 countries; however, they do not provide data on the efficacy of their own material. This manual would be most useful to organizations who are developing health education materials for specific populations. I had hoped that this manual would contain more specifics on how different cultures perceive images. However, this manual outlines ways define the target audience, methods for gathering data from target audiences (including types of research), how to tailor information to specific stages of behavior adoption, and design considerations. While the content appears credible, and PATH is an established nonprofit organization, this source doesn’t specific data that could be included in my research project. It isn’t clear if the suggestions and tips contained in this manual have been peer-reviewed, subject to research, or follow an established standard. However, the manual does provide a 20-item bibliography that may be provide additional resources for my research topic. While the manual is not an appropriate source for a research paper, the bibliography may prove invaluable when searching for more information on the topic of developing culturally relevant visuals.
This manual is specifically geared towards organizations looking to create their own print materials. The manual outlines the techniques used by an organization called Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) to communicate to illiterate and low-literate people. The manual states that PATH’s techniques have been used in over 40 countries; however, they do not provide data on the efficacy of their own material. This manual would be most useful to organizations who are developing health education materials for specific populations. I had hoped that this manual would contain more specifics on how different cultures perceive images. However, this manual outlines ways define the target audience, methods for gathering data from target audiences (including types of research), how to tailor information to specific stages of behavior adoption, and design considerations. While the content appears credible, and PATH is an established nonprofit organization, this source doesn’t specific data that could be included in my research project. It isn’t clear if the suggestions and tips contained in this manual have been peer-reviewed, subject to research, or follow an established standard. However, the manual does provide a 20-item bibliography that may be provide additional resources for my research topic. While the manual is not an appropriate source for a research paper, the bibliography may prove invaluable when searching for more information on the topic of developing culturally relevant visuals.
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