Health Literacy And Its Effect On Health

Health literacy has been accepted a keystone for health care services. Health literacy can be defined as “the prescription to end the confusion” or a “degree by which a person can develop the capability to understand the fundamental health related information and services in order to make proper health decision”. Health and social care professionals should consider influences of cultural and conceptual knowledge in health-related practices (Lehmann & Abel, 2016). The concept of health literacy is not limited in the practice of health and social care professionals. It also involves awareness of lay person in accessing and utilizing health care services available for them.

Health literacy has been demarcated as the measurement of the individual’s capacity to obtain, understand and process simple health information. It is needed to make satisfactory health decisions and determine services needed to treat or prevent illness. Health literacy requires knowledge from many topics, comprising the patient’s own body, appropriate conducts towards healthy results and the difficulties to understand the health system. It is influenced by many conditions such as our communication skills, age, socio-economic status, and cultural background, past experiences, educational level and mental health status (U.S. Department of

Low health literacy has negative health outcomes for many individuals impacted by the unattained health information and teaching that has not been established. Many low literacy individuals do not seek needed treatment due to the cost, unfamiliar location, and the foreign procedures that may occur. Individuals that suffer from low literacy are more prone to the development of chronic disease like diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure.

Health literacy has been a problem with our patients. The most vulnerable populations are the elderly, people with low-income levels, those with limited education, non-native speakers of English, those with chronic mental and physical health conditions, minority, and immigrant populations. Nurses have a great role in helping our patients succeed in understanding their health conditions. Nurses can be of great help in promoting health literacy. Sykes, Wills, Rowlands and Popple (2013) defined health literacy as the ability of individuals to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information. The three domains of health literacy, according to Bennett and Perkins (2012) as adapted from the (WHO) (1998) are functional health literacy, interactive literacy, and critical health literacy. Functional health literacy is basic reading and writing skills to be able to function effectively in a health context. Interactive health literacy is the used of more advanced cognitive and literacy skills to participate in health care. Critical health literacy is the ability to analyze critically and to use information to participate in action, to overcome structural barriers to health (p.14). The U.S. Department of Education published the findings of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy conducted in 2003. The result showed that 36 % of adults have basic or below-basic skills for dealing with health material, 52 %

Only about 12 percent of adults have Proficient health literacy. A health literate individual is able and should be determined to spread this skill to others around them and to their community, country, and nation. This skill could very well prevent many people from becoming sick and unhealthy. Adults should use their sense of health literacy to influence their children, friends, and relatives to develop healthy habits and prevent unhealthy ones. This is a good skill to have when you need it. You never know when you may come across a health problem. Health literacy can help everyone keep a good balance of health and

Health literacy is the ability for an individual to understand the necessary ways to treat and maintain potential illness, as well as the knowledge to achieve a healthy lifestyle. This may include altering the way in which the information is given to the client in order to best allow them to grasp the material being presented to them. Effective health literacy also includes providing knowledge to the client in order to allow them to make informed decisions, become aware of the benefits available to them, and learn where they can access the care they require (Massey, Prelip, Calimlim, Afifi, Quiter, Nessim, Wongvipat-Kalev, & Glik, 2013). By providing education to the client in a way they can understand and are comfortable with, the nurse or health care professional is greatly increasing the health literacy of the individual.

Health literacy is defined 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" (Michael K. Paasche-Orlow, 2010), the word Health literacy first appeared in 1974 in a paper which calls for “education standards for all grade school levels in USA” (Carolyn Speros, 2004) . Some recent works suggest that there is a relation between literacy, low health and premature deaths (Christina Zarcadoolas et al, 2005).

Healthy People 2010 define 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 care related decisions.” These are the skills that people need to find the right place in the hospital, fill out insurance forms, and communicate appropriately with

Unfortunately, low health literacy is very common in the United States. The factors that affect an individual’s literacy skills include age, education, language, and socioeconomic status. Individuals with lower income, limited education, minority populations, and the elderly are at very high risk of low health literacy and the poor health outcomes associated with it. It is evident that as people age their cognitive functions decline. As a result, the majority of the elderly population is unaware or

Health literacy has seventeen definitions instead of one because there are inconsistencies with the world of the internet and social media (Nelson & Staggers, 2018). The Institution of Medicine and the World Health Organization definitions focus “on an individual’s skill in obtaining and using the health information and services necessary to make appropriate health decisions” (Nelson & Staggers, 2018, p. 14). The health literacy level for patient handouts available on the internet or given to patients should be no higher than sixth grade, so it can be understood. Although, many health literacy levels are above sixth grade, which prevents patients from understanding and using the information to maintain their health. Health literacy levels

Health literacy is an extremely important factor when it comes to taking care of ourselves. Health literacy is most commonly defined as the ability to understand health information that can range from levels of simple to difficult. We

On October 12, 2017, Joan Morris, MSHA, MBA, RN, spoke with LEND trainees about Health Literacy. Joan defined health literacy as, “the ability to read, understand and act on health care information”. Many influences impact health literacy, including environmental factors such as socioeconomic status, occupation, employment, income, social support, media, language, and culture, in addition to a person’s physical qualities like age, gender, vision, hearing, verbal ability, memory, reasoning, physical abilities, social skills, and metacognitive skills (Health literacy and public health: A systematic review and integration of definitions and models).

Health literacy as defined in Cromier & Kotrlik article “the ability to read, understand, and use health information to make appropriate health care decisions and follow instructions for treatment” (Cromier 2007). It is a problem that affects an estimated 47 million people in the US alone and costs an estimated 73 billion dollars a year. These costs come from increased hospitalizations, the use of less preventative medicine, as well as, the social stigma that comes with having poor health literacy stopping people from seeking treatment at all. Health literacy is an important skill that every person needs to effectively make decisions relating to health care, which includes not only general health, but also disease and illness management, and health plan management. It is a problem that nurses can help combat through the utilization of effective communication, the continuum of care, and as advocates for policy change. Effective communication includes both communications with the patient as well as other health providers. The continuum of care is primarily comprised of patient education and needs to include making sure patients understand what they are being taught. Lastly, nurses need to be involved in the avocation for policy change. That should include health facility policy, local policy, and national policy. These three critical areas can go a long way in improving the health literacy of the US and could potentially save the lives of many who are overlooked in the

The study intent was to demonstrate that low health literacy is concomitant with poorer health and higher mortality rate and to establish that multifaceted health materials are barriers to health. The ideas were to assess the literateness and proficiency skills necessary to understand and use common used English health information materials, and to define populace skills in absorbing health information. An observational learning to compare health materials with national working-age population skills was implemented.

According to Ratzan (2001), health literacy was first introduced by Simonds in 1974, who argued that health education should be facilitated at school as a standard policy. It required students to learn literacy in science subjects in order to increase the vocabulary. Simply, health literacy is a ‘constellation of skills, including the ability to perform basic reading and numerical tasks required to function in the health care environment’ (Bresolin 1999). Beyond reading and numeracy skills, health literacy is further defined as ‘the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain and process and understand basic health related information and services needed to make