Health Literacy : The Peoples ' Understanding Of Health And Health Care

Health literacy empowers individuals with knowledge and understanding regarding health information enabling them to make informed decisions about their health care. Health literacy affects people of all ages, race and ethnicity, education levels, income and languages spoken. All individuals deserve the right to have access to accurate, easy to understand, reliable, valid information to make informed decisions about their healthcare. According to Baur (2011), Health literacy is the extent in which individuals acquire, assimilate and comprehend health information and services to make informed health decisions. This has become a public health mission in the Healthy People agenda of 2010 and 2020 (Baur, 2011, p.63).

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

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 %

A big problem today in health care for many people is health literacy. Health literacy is when a person is able to understand and process medical information they are given. Having low health literacy can affect how a person understands, and uses information about their health and health services (Batterham 2016). Low health literacy rates lead to big issues in communication. Limited literacy impacts health behaviors, decisions, and ultimately outcomes. Many people have low health literacy which leads to bad health outcomes. Research shows that low literacy is linked with the lower likelihood of people being able to manage their own health conditions, and less access to health care services which can lead to poor health outcomes. There are many reasons people have low health literacy, A lack of formal education and poor reading ability aren't the only causes of low health literacy. Low health literacy is associated with a number of things like poor engagement in health services, health knowledge, and overall health status. People with low health literacy may feel ashamed and try to hide it from professionals and family members. Most health care professionals are unaware of the level of health literacy their patient has. (Greenhalgh 2015) There is a need to identify individual health literacy needs and address how to work on solutions to benefit them and whole groups of people. Differences in health literacy

Literacy is the ability to read and write, and it is based on different competency of individuals. Health literacy is a term that has been used in health literature for more than 35 years. In the United States, health literacy is used to explicate and describe the correlation between patient literacy levels and their ability to adhere with prescribed therapeutic regimens (Ad Hoc Committee on Health Literacy, 1999). Likewise, health literacy is also defined as the grade to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions (IOM, 2004) (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2000). Health literacy is also influenced by individual literacy skills and individual capacities (Baker, Gazmararian, Sudano & Patterson, 2000). This study is important due to the high number of patients with difficulty interpreting and understanding common prescription drug labelled instructions. It can be inferred that

“Health Literacy” a term to define literacy in healthcare. “An estimated 90 million people in the U.S. have difficulties understanding and using health information” (Hawkins, Kantayya and Sharkey-Asner, 2010). Low health literacy poses public health risks due to groups of people not being able to adequately care for themselves and stay healthy. This paper argues the importance of literacy as it pertains to health and also explores the various types of literacy that can impact how health information is received and understood from the general public.

The Australian government plays a vital role in promoting health literacy in the community. There are three levels, federal, state and territories, and local government that comprise a complex division of responsibilities (OECD, 2015). The fundamental goal of health care is to lesson disease and promote health (Australia’s Health,2016). One effective tactic is to embed the principles into health systems. (Vellar, Mastroianni & Lambert., 2016, p622) An excellent example is the successful implementation at Shoalhaven local health district (SHLHD), of a Health Literacy Framework between 2012 -2015. Methods utilised included the use of plain English in all healthcare information, training of staff across all disciplines and the requirement that health literacy be considered in all interpersonal communication. Patient feedback regarding the SHLHD has been positive. (Vellar et al., 2016). Therefore, the embedding of health literacy in to the policies and frameworks within a health service is an effective way of ultimately increasing the health care outcomes of patients.

Background: Health literacy presents a huge challenge in the delivery of effective healthcare and quality outcomes. We evaluated association between low health literacy and healthcare utilization.

In addition to basic literacy skills, health literacy needs knowledge of health topics. People with low health literacy often don’t have

The problems associated with the health literacy have been identified by the researchers in the last ten years. They came to know the role played by it in the medical as well as the individual self care by the comprehension of information related to health and the outcomes related to it (Carolyn Speros, 2004).

Health literacy is both a consumer and public healthcare issue. As a health care provider, it is not only my responsibility to ensure that you understand your health and what is going on

The ability to obtain, comprehend, process, and communicate health information in an effort to make health decisions is the definition of health literacy. The literacy rate in the United States is staggering. Fifty percent of adults cannot read at an eighth-grade level (Literacy Project, 2017). Nurses may not be aware of the enormity of this problem because, more than likely, their social contacts consist of friends and family who are educated. In today’s climate of managed care, illiteracy can have devastating effects, because patients have a greater responsibility for

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 plays an important role in individuals’ decision-making. The scope of health literacy does not limit to traditional medical perspective. It has extended from basic understanding of diseases and medication to all aspects that affect health. As one of the key social determinants, health literacy has huge impact on health and well-being. Yet, the influence is further associated with disease prevention, lifestyle, policy making, etc. This essay will first discuss the concept of health literacy and the consequences that link to it, and then give a strategy, designing user-centred messages in education, to improve health literacy, and the roles of health professionals.

I agree with you that health literacy is a serious and real problem in the health care field. Limited health literacy affects a patient's entire health care experience. Patients with low health literacy are more likely to miss preventive measures, which will most likely require rehospitalization. It is imperative for nurses to avoid jargons and use simple language to get the message across. While Henderson’s theory supports nursing as a profession in assisting patients who are well or sick and ensuring 14 basic needs, Orem’s theory is more contemporary where a nurse engages patient in plan of care and guides the patient to be self-dependent in the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Orem’s theory supports that client has the primary