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Theory of health literacy
Relationship between health literacy and effective communincation
Theory of health literacy
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The communication at health care is an essential element which aids professionals and customers in providing and taking services. The interpersonal or mass communication is vital for an individual in the health care department. Skills and abilities of a person or team helps in resolving health issues of customers. Therefore, health literacy plays an important role in building skills and abilities of workers at health care. Thus, the essay encompasses the various importances of health literacy and communication which will shape the future of a health care organization. Health literacy interlinks individuals as well as their health care environment so as to perform better. Low health literacy is a common problem in Australia, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports that 59% of Australians aged 15-74 do not have the adequate health literacy skills needed to effectively access health services and manage their life's (Communicating with patients: improving health literacy and outcomes, 2017). Health communication and literacy helps organizations to control decision making and practice empowerment (Gazmararian and et …show more content…
People with low knowledge about health may end up leading a difficult and vulnerable life as they are unaware about particular diseases which might be dangerous due to lack of health consciousness. Future interventions should be expanded to include methods for improving popular health literacy through school-based health education directed at children and adolescents as well as through more general efforts directed at adults. Improved education about health could enhance the ability and motivation of individuals to solve personal and public health problems by enabling them to apply skills in response to various health problems arising throughout
Boosting good quality information for patients, their families and the public was a duty in the National Health Service(NHS) Plan (July 2000, chapter 10) and part of the proposals in the Kennedy Report into the Bristol Royal Infirmary (July 2001, section 2, chapter 23) all cited in Department of Health (DH) (2008). Producing quality information to patients and members of the public will not only allow them to interpret their health needs but also enable them to make right decision for themselves and their families (DH, 2006). One of the methods of doing this is through health education which is one of the components of health promotion (Naidoo and Wills, 2009; Ewles and Simnett, 2003; Brooker and Waught, 2007). Health education can be described as: helping people to enhance and take control their own health; influencing people to decide and support healthful practices; delivering information; raising understanding of health issues and circumstances leading to ill health just to mention a few (Brooker and Waught, 2007; Naidoo and Wills, 2009; Ewles and Simnett, 2003).
Conaty-Buck, S. (2009). Unblocking barriers: Clearing the channel to improve communication between practitioners and patients with low health literacy. (Order No. 3364864, University of Virginia). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 121. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/docview/305011452?accountid=14694. (305011452).
All individuals across the world strive to acquire high levels of competence and literacy across all aspects of education. It is human nature to maintain good health, and to educate ourselves on how to sustain prominent, fulfilling lifestyles. In application to health, the first step in achieving adequate health requires one to know where to locate reliable information. Not only is it important to understand what it takes to create health, but also the process of preserving healthy habits at all times. The construct of Health Literacy illustrates this notion entirely—and can be defined as the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions (CDC.gov).
However, health literacy is more than just read and write; it is the ability to understand and able to use health information to make choices about their health (Benyon, 2014). Low health literacy can have detrimental effect on the health of the client because it may cause misunderstand of the medical label or health information. According to McMurray & Clendon (2015), health literacy divided into three different levels which are functional, interactive/communicative and critical health literacy. As for functional levels, it is the most general and fundamental level for the general public because individuals need to receive and understand the information of health such as risk of health decision, consent forms, health instruction or medicine labels. (McMurray & Clendo , 2015) Turning to the next level, interactive/communicative health literacy, mainly involved personal skills to spread health knowledge to the community, and also , people are able to influence social norm and help others individuals to develop their personal health capacity. Because of this, understanding of how organization work and resounding communication skill which can help to support others and knowing how to get different health services other individuals need (McMurray & Clendo , 2015). The third level is critical health literacy, mainly divided to
Many organizations and healthcare institutions are active members in improving quality of care thru health literacy. The Joint Commission’s Public Policy Initiative begun in 2001, work at safe quality health care thru increased health literacy. Healthy People 2010 report presents safety and health literacy as a goal. recent national action focus on removing barriers.7 This is reinforced by provisions in the Affordable Care Act and the Plain Writing Act. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality(AHRQ) published the Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit, a self-assessment tool to direct quality increase in health literacy in primary care. The toolkit is built on the rules of the universal precautions, to help guide the healthcare professionals to create health materials understandable to the patients. The National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy is a policy document to use to improve health literacy. The policy is founded on two values (1) everyone has the right to health information that helps them make informed decisions and (2) health services should be delivered in ways that are understandable and beneficial to health, longevity, and quality of life (Healthy People 2020). Effective communication is a cornerstone of patient safety (The Joint Commission, 2007, p. 5). Health literacy is a factor in engaging patients in preventive care (The Joint Commission, 2007, p. 28). The Joint Commission’s
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).
Literacy is the ability to read, write, and speak a written language. Literacy is a vital aspect in society because it helps one advance their own knowledge and potential. One can also advance their own knowledge and potential through health literacy. According to Health.gov, “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” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services). Health Literature is used daily to enrich one’s knowledge about old and new health information in the health community. Health literacy is an important aspect of all publications because it informs people about life-threatening or urgent
Healthy People 2020 is an important national health initiation because it encourages self-care activates that promote a healthy lifestyle. Healthy People 2020 uses scientific data to establish a guideline that promotes patient literacy, disease prevention, and healthy lifestyle changes. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the mission of Healthy People 2020 is to, “increase public awareness and understanding of the determinants of health, disease, and disability and the opportunities for progress” (Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2014). Public awareness is the first step in disease prevention. A lack of public awareness can lead to
Health literacy is a term not widely understood by the general population. It is defined as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions and services needed to prevent or treat illness,” (About health literacy, 2014). A person’s level of health literacy is based on their age, education level, socioeconomic standing, and cultural background. Patients with low health literacy have a more difficult time navigating the health care system. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this group of patients may find it harder to find medical services and health care providers, fill out health forms, provide their complete medical history with their providers, seek preventative care, understand the health risks associated with some behaviors, taking care of chronic health conditions, and understanding how to take prescribed medications (About health literacy, 2014). It is to a certain extent the patient’s responsibility to increase their own health literacy knowledge. But to what extent can they learn on their own? Those working in the health field have been trained to navigate the health system and understand the medical terms. They have the knowledge and capability to pass on that understanding to their patients. Health care professionals have a shared responsibility to help improve patients’ health literacy.
Merging multi-literacies in Health and Physical Education could allow students to talk about topics of the genre more successfully and have knowledge of Health and Physical Education terms and language in daily life. According to Nutbeam (2000) interactive health literacy is a term which outlines the individual inspiration to maintain personal health. By teaching skills in the primary years to communicate and cope with health issues and physical activity will assist students in the schools of South Australia to know their personal requirements.
Health literacy plays an important role in individuals’ decision-making. The scope of health literacy does not limit to traditional medical perspective. In fact, it has extended from the basic understanding of diseases and medications to all aspects that affect health. As one of the key social determinants, health literacy has huge impact on health and well-being. Its influence is associated with disease prevention, healthy lifestyle promotion, 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,
In Chapter 13, The Author discuss the problem of health literacy in United States and its effects in health care out come. Author has defines the Health Literacy as the degree to which an individual has to capacity to obtain, communicate, process and, understand basic health information and services to make appropriate decision. On the other hand the organization health literacy is their capabilities to overcome barriers of health literacy. In a health survey only few patients (12-15%) were found at proficient level of the health literacy and more than 50% patients falls in moderate level. Data of health literacy shows that it is a big problem that has to be worked to achieve healthcare out come.
In 2012, 29 million patients were diagnosed with diabetes, which account for 9.3% of population.1 Low level of health literacy is observed in diabetic patients with 15- 40% of sampled population. Inadequate health literacy is associated with poorer diabetic knowledge and considered a potential barrier to improving health outcome. 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. Management of the Diabetes is becoming a national issue because of large number of patients and the rising cost of the treatment.
There has been a great deal of attention given by individuals, the media and by the government to Health Education. There is no doubt that a population which is “health literate” is significant for the sake of the “public health as a whole and consequently for public finances”(Tappe 2013) (Younghee 2013). Many countries, including the U.S., have realized just how vital these issues have become. Sadly however, the ability to understand basic health information, with or without health education, as well as access and process the services is only possessed by “50%”of the American public, resulting in the escalation of health care costs as well as poor decision making regarding health care.
Health is a vital component in our everyday life. If it is compromised, everything else goes down with it. Health affects an individual drastically; therefore, it is imperative that we take good care of our bodies in order to maintain normal body functions that can help us go through our normal day-to-day lives without fail. There are many factors that can affect health--one of them is Education. Health education feeds emotions that will motivate us to do a better job at being caretakers of ourselves. It can therefore, be said that health education can encourage people to act on their own personal health.