GSU Library Research Guides: Patient Education and Health Literacy: Health Literacy

Introduction

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.”

- Institute of Medicine, 2006

For more background materials review the links below.

"Health in the 'hidden population' of people with low literacy. A systematic review of the literature."
Phyllis Easton, Vikki A Entwistle, Brian Williams
BMC Public Health. 2010; 10: 459. Published online 2010 August 5. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-10-459
Health Literacy
From the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM).
Quick Guide to Health Literacy
From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
What Did the Doctor Say? Improving Health Literacy to protect Patient Safety.
From the Joint Commission, 2007.

Books @ Georgia State

Communicating health by Mohan J. Dutta
Call Number: R118 .D88 2008
Library North 3
Essentials of patient education by Susan Bastable
Call Number: RT90 .E85 2006
Library North 3
Health literacy: a prescription to end confusion by Institute of Medicine
Call Number: RA440 .H43 2004
Library North 3
Health Literacy: Developments, issues and outcomes
Electronic Resource
Health Literacy and Numeracy by Institute of Medicine
ISBN: 9780309299800
Electronic Resource
Health Literacy in Context: International Perspectives
Electronic Resource
Health Literacy in Nursing: Providing Person-Centered Care by Terri Ann Parnell
Electronic Resource
Health literacy in primary care: A clinician's guide by Gloria G. Mayer
Call Number: RA440.5 .M42 2007
Library North 3
The Medical Library Association Guide to Providing Consumer and Patient Health Information by Michele Spatz
Electronic Resource
Teaching patients with low literacy skills
Call Number: R727.4 .D63 1996
Library North 3
Toward health equity and patient-centeredness : Integrating health literacy, disparities reduction, and quality improvement: workshop summary by Institute of Medicine
Call Number: RA393 .I57 2009
Library North 3

Here's a video!

An excellent video from the AMA Foundation: "Health Literacy and Patient Safety: Help Patients Understand".

Literacy Assessment Tools

Bibliography of Health Literacy Assessment Tools
National Library of Medicine Consumer Health Informatics Research Resource
CDC Health Literacy Training for Professionals
Training materials include Writing for the Public; Using Numbers and Explaining Risk; Creating Easier to Understand Lists, Charts, and Graphs; Speaking with the Public.
National Assessment of Adult Literacy
A nationally representative assessment of English literacy among American adults age 16 and older. Sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Numeracy and Health: Helping Americans Do the Math (.pdf)
How to help people with low numeracy skills from the Department of Human Development, Cornell University.
Pfizer's "Newest Vital Sign" Campaign Toolkit
REALM-R Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine
Test your document's readability
From Microsoft. Assess your document using the Flesch Reading Ease or the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level tests

Resources

Ask Me 3
From the National Patient Safety Foundation. Provider and patient information about health literacy.
Health Literacy & Plain Language Resource Guide
Free resource created by Health Literacy Innovations,
and supported by the AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies.
How to Write Easy-to-Read Health Materials
From MedlinePlus.
Pharmacy Health Literacy Center
From AHRQ, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Plain Language
From the Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN), a group of federal employees from many different agencies and specialties.
PRISM Readability Toolkit
A resource that shows research teams how to create consent forms and other patient materials in plain language. Produced by the Project to Review and Improve Study Materials (PRISM) at the Group Health Center for Health Studies.
Simply Put
Tips for creating easy-to-read print materials your audience will want to read and use. From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.