Clear Health Communication Training Series
Clear: Understanding
Health Literacy Missouri
Sam Pettyjohn, MPH
Today you will learn:
•
•
•
•
What health literacy is
Factors that influence health literacy
Barriers to health literacy
Proven strategies to improve communication in your daily
activities and organization
Quiz
Which is the strongest predictor of health status?
a) Age
b) Income
c) Literacy skills
d) Education level
e) Racial or ethnic group
f) Average beer intake at Anheuser-Busch
— Weiss , American Medical Association, 2003
What is health literacy?
“The degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain,
communicate, process and understand health information and
services in order to make appropriate health decisions.”
— Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Title V, Section 5002)
What factors impact health literacy?
•
•
•
•
•
Communication skills
Knowledge of health topics
Culture
System demands
Demands of the situation
What we know: Literacy levels
One in five adults reads at or below 5th
grade level
Two in five adults aged 65 years and older read at
or below 5th grade level
— NAAL, 2003
Most education materials are written beyond patients’ ability to
understand
— IOM 2004
What we know: The cost
U.S. spends almost $2 trillion on health care
$106 - $238 billion in unnecessary health care costs annually in U.S.
— Vernon, University of Connecticut, 2007
$3.3 - $7.7 billion in unnecessary health care costs annually in
Missouri
— Health Literacy Missouri Coordinating Council, 2009
What could you do with that money?
+
What could you do with that money?
You could write a check for $39,748 to every Missouri resident
OR
Buy each of them a 2011 Cadillac Coupe
What we know: Health management
93 million American adults lack literacy skills to understand
and use health information
40-80% is forgotten once
people leave the office
Nearly half is recalled incorrectly
What we know: Impacts
Those with limited health literacy skills:
• Report poorer health
• Less likely be screened
• Less likely to understand diagnosis
or treatment
• More likely to be hospitalized
Why is it so important?
Clear health communication:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ensures access
Improves quality
Reduces disparities
Assures patient safety
Improves self-care
Reduces cost
Communication: A bridge
Proven strategies
What kinds of techniques help to decrease risks
and increase understanding and action?
•
•
•
•
Advocacy
Improve the usability of information
Improve the usability of services
Improve access to information
Advocacy
• Make the case for health literacy
• Incorporate into activities
• Establish accountability
Improve usability of information
• Adopt user-centered design
• Practice plain language, teach back, cultural
competency
Cultural competency
Elements that will produce health outcomes
•
•
•
•
Beliefs
Traditions
Language preferences
Health practices
Elements of plain language
•
•
•
•
•
When speaking, slow down
Most to least important
Chunk information
3 – 5 main points
Use simple language and common analogies; define technical
terms
What is teach back?
Describe concepts, demonstrate actions
Why?
• Ensures understanding
• Reduces costs
• Shown to be effective
Improve usability of services
Health forms/instructions
• Pictures and
illustrations
• Revisions and
pre-testing
• Assistance
Physical environment
Improve access to health information
•
•
•
•
•
New ways to share understandable health materials
New partnerships
New ways to distribute information
Align information with access
Partner with educators
A quick review…
Strategies you can use to improve health literacy:
•
•
•
•
Advocacy
Improve the usability of information
Improve the usability of services
Improve access to information
Training Toolkit
Additional resources can be found under the Health Literacy
Trainings portion of our website
www.healthliteracymissouri.org
Clear Health Communication Training Series
Clear: Materials
Plain language is communication your audience can
understand the first time they read or hear it. You’ll learn
clear communication techniques you can apply to all your
print materials.
Clear: Conversations
This train-the-trainer session will teach you how to put on an
interactive workshop that helps patients talk with their
doctor.
Questions?
For more information about other trainings, please contact:
Meghan O’Connell
moconnell@healthliteracymissouri.org
Visit us on the web
www.healthliteracymissouri.org