American Association for Health EducationSession 711 - Promoting Health Literacy: Tools for

Health Professionals

Saturday, April 2, 2011: 1:00 PM-2:15 PMConvention Center: Room 26A

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Walk the Talk: Trends and Issues In Health LiteracySession Objectives:

To provide background and tools to improve the health literacy skills of both the public and health professionals

To address the recommendations of the 2010 National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy.

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Federal Definition of Health Literacy

Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.

Source: Healthy People 2010

The National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy

A guide to engage organizations, professionals, policymakers, communities, individuals, and families in a linked, multi-sector effort to improve health literacy

Contains seven goals that will improve health literacy and suggests strategies for achieving them

http://www.health.gov/communication/HLActionPlan 04/21/234

Overview

National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy

Develop a Plan for Action

Why Create an Action Plan?

Federal Foundations for a National Action Plan

Healthy People

Objectives

2009 Organizational Consultations

2007-2008 Town Halls in 4 cities

2006 Surgeon General’s Workshop

2004 Institute of Medicine

Report

2003 NAAL Data

NIH/AHRQ Research Program

Announcement

2003 Action Plan

2010 Plan

Released

“Health literacy is needed to make health reform a reality,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Without health information that makes sense to them, people can’t access cost effective, safe, and high quality health services.

But, HHS can’t do it alone,” she added. “We need payers and providers of health care services to communicate clearly and make the necessary changes to improve their communication with consumers, patients, and beneficiaries…”

May 27, 2010 Press Release

Seven Goal Areas

Health information creation and dissemination

Healthcare services

Early childhood-university education

Community-based services

Partnership and collaboration

Research and evaluation

Dissemination of evidence-based practice

Health Information Creation and Dissemination

Healthcare Services

Early Childhood-University Education

Community-based Services

Partnership and Collaboration

Research and Evaluation

Dissemination of Evidence-Based Practice

Putting the Pieces Together

Developing a Plan…

What steps should I take?

Getting Buy In…

American Medical Association videos

Trainings

Speaker from adult education class

Action with Results

Commit & Assess

Engage multiple stakeholders

Honest assessment Forms and factsheets Relationship with the media Communication with clients, partners, community Physical environment Program development, implementation, and evaluation Internal Communications and Policies

See what others are doing

State Health Literacy EffortsHealth Literacy Missourihttp://www.healthliteracymissouri.org/

Partnership for Health Literacy in Arkansaswww.healthy.arkansas.gov

Minnesota Health Literacy Partnershipwww.healthliteracymn.org

Health Literacy Iowahttp://www.ihs.org/body.cfm?id=308

Wisconsin Literacy, Inc.http://www.wisconsinliteracy.org/

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Create the Plan Be strategic and evidence-based

Focus on the goal, not the current operations

Cross disciplinary boundaries

Include evaluation

Include awareness

Include laws, policies and other institutional factors

Consider solutions to barriers

Be realistic, yet forward-thinking

Discussion on Barriers & Ways to Overcome Them

What goes into an Action Plan?

Goals

What do you want to accomplish?

What will success look like in…

1 year

3 years

5 years

Brainstorming Goals

National Action Plan Goal Areas

Health information creation and dissemination

Healthcare services

Early childhood-university education

Community-based services

Partnership and collaboration

Research and evaluation

Dissemination of evidence-based practice

Objectives How will you know if you reached your goal?

S pecific Measurable A ttainable R ealistic T ime-bound

Action Steps What actions will be taken?

What? By Who? By When?

What is needed to be successful? Resources Partners

“Vet” the Plan Show to relevant stakeholders

Have period of discussion and feedback

Refine Plan

Get senior leader(s) to endorse and support

Build Awareness Engage Advocates

Start with “easy wins”

Highlight the benefits people will appreciate immediately

Incorporate into new employee orientation materials

Get outside of your comfort zone

Monitor Progress & Institutionalize Plan

Determine who is accountable

Build process for monitoring

Refine what success will look like over time

Implement plan

CommitmentIs your organization using its resources to help

improve health literacy OR perpetuate and create health literacy barriers?

TOOLS Health Literacy Online: web design guide Healthfinder.gov Health Literacy Innovations (HLI) Center for Plain Language National Assessment of Adult Literacy

(NAAL) American Medical Association (AMA) Health Literacy Digest: Literacy Information

& Communication System(LINCS) healthliteracy-request@lincs.ed.gov

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Health Literacy Online: A Guide to Writing and Designing Easy-to-Use Health Web

SitesOutlines how to:

Deliver online health information that is actionable and engaging.

Create a health Web site that's easy to use, particularly for people with limited literacy skills and limited experience using the Web.

Evaluate and improve your health Web site with user-centered design.

http://www.health.gov/healthliteracyonline04/21/2335

Health.gov Health LiteracyProvides a number of Federal and other resources to

help health and communication professionals improve health literacy

1.Tools for improving health literacy 2.Research and reports3.Other related resources

http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy 04/21/2336

Healthfinder.govQuick Guide to Healthy Living

Delivers actionable, engaging, and easy to understand health content

Content syndicationPlain language resource with information on more than

80 prevention and wellness topics. Created and tested with input from hundreds of Web

users with limited literacy skillsEarned the 2010 ClearMark Award for best plain

language Public Sector Web site.http://www.healthfinder.gov/prevention/

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Other Government Resources Plain Language/Health Literacy

http://www.plainlanguage.gov/populartopics/health_literacy/index.cfm

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Health Literacy and Cultural Competency http://www.ahrq.gov/browse/hlitix.htm

Health Resources and Services Administration: Health Literacy http://www.hrsa.gov/publichealth/healthliteracy/index.html

National Institutes of Health: Clear Communication: A NIH Health Literacy Initiative http://www.nih.gov/clearcommunication/

Health Literacy at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention http://www.cdc.gov/healthmarketing/healthliteracy/

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Health Literacy Innovations

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Heath Literacy Advisor: Microsoft Word Add-Infor creating easy to read documents

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Questions?

Linda Johnston Lloyd, Health Literacy/Education Consultantlinda.johnston@comcast.net