Resources

Building Health Literate Organizations
Unity Point Health

This guidebook will help health care organizations of any size engage in organizational change to become health literate. It complements many excellent health literacy resources, helping you use them effectively and reliably. It includes background, resources, examples, and lessons learned to help build a health literate health care organization.

The Health Literacy of American Adults
U.S. Department of Education

The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) is a nationally representative assessment of English literacy among American adults ages 16 and older. NAAL includes a health literacy component and generated data about adults’ health literacy skills. The findings include useful data about adults’ use of health information. Relationships between health literacy and background variables (such as educational attainment, age, race and ethnicity, where adults get information about health issues, and health insurance coverage) are also reported.

Health Literacy and Patient Safety: Help Patients Understand 
American Medical Association

The Health Literacy and Patient Safety: Help Patients Understand kit is the AMA Foundation’s primary tool for informing physicians, health care professionals and patient advocates about health literacy. The materials will enable physicians to:

• Define the scope of the health literacy problem.
• Recognize health system barriers faced by patients with low literacy.
• Implement improved methods of verbal and written communication.
• Incorporate practical strategies to create a shame-free environment.

National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

A plan, released by the US Department of Health & Human Services, that includes seven broad goals with multiple high level strategies for various stakeholders and provides a focal point for the field.

Ten Attributes of Health Literate Health Care Organizations 
Cindy Brach, Debra Keller, Lyla M. Hernandez, Cynthia Baur, Ruth Parker, Benard Dreyer, Paul Schyve, Andrew J. Lemerise, and Dean Schillinge

This paper describes 10 attributes of health literate health care organizations, that is, health care organizations that make it easier for people to navigate, understand, and use information and services to take care of their health.

Podcast: Being Agile When Communicating About Health 
Health Literacy Out Loud: Digital Content Strategy

In this podcast, Leigh Curtin-Wilding talks with Helen Osborne about:

• Being agile in health communication, prepared to adapt content to changing conditions, policies, and formats.

• Understanding the user’s journey that includes actions, emotions, and how they access information.

• Tips for effective communication including understanding the audience, chunking information, having short bursts of information, and using visuals and good design.

Video: Health Literacy Lecture 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Listen to Dr. Rima Rudd, health literacy expert, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, explain health literacy

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 
Health Literacy: Accurate, Accessible and Actionable Health Information for All
http://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy

The Harvard School of Public Health 
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy/