Health Literacy
CMST 420
06 October 2014
HL Defined
• Term first used in 1974 in an article that
described how health information impacts the
educational system, health care system, and
mass communication.
• Challenge: health literacy skills are required to
function in health care systems that are
increasingly characterized by technologic
sophistication and complexity.
Definition, continued.
• The American Medical Association (AMA)
defines health literacy as “a constellation of skills,
including the ability to perform basic reading and
numerical tasks required to function in the health
care environment.”
• Healthy People 2010 defines health literacy as
“the degree to which individuals have the
capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic
health information and services needed to make
appropriate health decisions.”
Visualize HL
• The challenges of health literacy are
somewhat akin to those a driver faces when
lost in an unfamiliar area.
We need
1. To find a source of accurate directions;
2. To correctly understand the language
and meaning of necessary information;
3. And to follow the directions properly
from beginning to end.
Lost in Health Literacyville
• Written information (street signs and printed
maps) can be helpful—but may be hard to find
and difficult to read/understand.
• Calling someone for help is an option—if we have
access to a phone and can reach the person who
knows the way and can communicate the
directions accurately and effectively.
• Onboard navigational systems would help, but
info may not be updated enough. And, most
people don’t have this option and/or might be
intimidated/unfamiliar with the technology.
• Stopping to ask for directions—IF we aren’t so
embarrassed or ashamed to admit we are lost.
The person giving directions must use language
and landmarks that we can understand.
HL Attributes: PROSE LITERACY
• Prose literacy: the ability to locate requested
information within written text documents
(e.g., editorials, news stories, poems, and
fiction), to integrate disparate information
presented in the texts, and to write new
information based on the texts.
HL Attributes: DOCUMENT LITERACY
• Document Literacy: the ability to locate
selected information on a short form or
graphical display of everyday information
(e.g., job applications, transportation
schedules, and maps), to apply selected
information presented in documents, and to
use writing to complete documents and
survey forms that require filling in
information.
HL Attributes: QUANTITATIVE LITERACY
• Quantitative Literacy (Numeracy):
the ability to locate numbers within
graphs, charts, prose texts, and
documents; to integrate quantitative
information from texts; and to
perform appropriate arithmetic
operations on text-based
quantitative data (e.g., using a
bank’s ATM, understanding a bar
graph, and completing a FAFSA or
Tax Return form.)
But there’s more….
• Processing health information received through
communication channels such as video,
interactive multimedia, or interpersonal
communication also requires skills such as
speaking and listening.
• The ability to engage in conversations by speaking
and listening (known as 2-way communication), is
essential for accessing, understanding, and
applying health information received from a
physician or other interpersonal source.
And more…
– Being able to clearly and accurately express
physical, mental, and emotional states to health
care providers.
– To hear, process, and understand spoken
information expressed by another person;
– And to confidently interrupt and ask questions
despite the power differential between patient
and provide or patient and insurance
administrator.
And more…
• Intercultural Literacy: Differences between the
two communicators’ spoken language, cultural
heritage, perceived power, education level, and
other factors can make the positive exchange of
health information in interpersonal interactions
difficult or impossible.
• Media Literacy (the ability to develop an informal
and critical understanding of the nature of mass
media, the techniques used by them, and the
impact of these techniques) required.
And more….
• Computer Literacy: an understanding of the
concepts, terminology and operations that
relate to general computer use…AND the
essential knowledge needed to function
independently to avoid problems, adapt to
new situations, keep information organized
and communicate effectively with other
computer literate people.
And more…
• Motivation to Receive and Process
Information: related to people’s beliefs about
the health information they receive. Lack of
motivation to receive or to act on health
information can be as much a barrier to
functional health literacy as is the lack of
cognitive abilities and skills. One predictor of
an individual’s motivation is his or her
perceived personal relevance of the
information being presented.
For Wednesday:
• Health Literacy and the Communication…
HL & The Communication Matrix
• Functional health literacy is determined by the strength
of the match between an individual’s health literacy
abilities and the types of abilities required for
processing specific types of health messages.
• These important intersections are depicted in the
health literacy and communication matrix. The matrix
reveals that functional health literacy is NOT exclusively
a function of an individual’s abilities—BUT ALSO A
FUNCTION OF THE CHARACTERISTICS AND QUALITIES
OF THE COMMUNICATION MESSAGES THAT THE
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVES.
COMMUNICATION MATRIX
Individual health
literacy attributes
HEALTH MESSAGE CHANNELS
PRINT
INTERPERSONAL
AUDIO/
VIDEO
INTER-ACTIVE
MULTI-MEDIA
Health
Message
Content
Quantitative
Literacy
Prose/ Document
Literacy
2way
Communication
Media Literacy
Computer Literacy
Motivation
(culture &
relevance)
xxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxxxxx
Physical/ mental
impairments
External
assistance
XXXXXX Cells represent the MOST IMPORTANT INTERSECTIONS between format and content of health
messages and the health literacy attributes needed to access, understand, and apply these messages.