Institute Co-sponsors with The Centre for Literacy

Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA)

The Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) National Literacy and Health Program raises awareness among health professionals in Canada about the links between literacy and health. The program promotes plain language health information and clear verbal communication in health professional practice through a partnership of 27 national health associations. Web site: www.cpha.ca

WORLD EDUCATION

World Education, located in Boston, is a non-profit organization providing training and technical assistance in non-formal education. World Education works to strengthen adult literacy in the United States through professional development, curricula and materials development, research and special projects in areas such as literacy and health, technology, civic participation, and transitions to college. World Education also works in Asia, Africa, and Latin America in areas such as maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS education, environmental education, community development, micro-finance, and literacy. Web site: www.worlded.org

What participants wanted to address

Before the Institute began, we asked participants to identify some issues and concerns that they wanted to address. These were categorized into two groups — information and issue questions. These groupings revealed both some overlap among issues and the degree of diversity among participants. While we could not reasonably answer all the questions in three days, we expected that individuals would find answers to the purely informational through talking, sharing materials on information tables, and using the resource library in The Centre. The Institute focused on issues. We offered many opportunities to consider and, perhaps, re-frame some of the more complex ones. Following is a selection of participants’ issues by category:

Concepts

• Developing the language and a framework for discussing literacy and health
• Creating an agenda for addressing and improving practices and policies
• Defining health literacy ...Evaluating health literacy

Sharing knowledge, lessons learned

• What can we learn from development models of health and literacy work?
• What are the problems in health and literacy worldwide? What concerns and solutions have been found in other jurisdictions?

Roles and responsibilities

• While hospitals and other health care organizations are supposed to address the needs of all clients (as supported by their policy documents), this is rarely the case with respect to literacy issues.
• How can the adult basic education field help meet the health information needs of adults with limited literacy skills?
• How can the adult basic education practitioners and programs actively participate in the health literacy movement?
• How can we connect low literacy clients with the resources they need to access community and government services?

Raising awareness

• Although [many] national organizations have endorsed ‘Clear Writing’, the message does not appear to have reached front-line workers.
• Building an understanding among people from varied sectors and disciplines about how limited literacy impacts health in many indirect as well as direct ways
• Need to find effective ways to communicate about this model outside local contexts so the work will be perceived as purposeful and adding value to literacy education

Plain language

• There is still a real resistance on the part of most professionals to embrace the use of plain language – how can we change this?

Relationship among variables affecting literacy and health

• What are some of the links between poverty, ill health and lack of education?
• As we now live in a “global village” I would like to see some discussion on how culture influences literacy and health in an immigrant population.
• Literacy as a determinant of health – current research and future research needs
• What are the links between environment and health?

Research and practice

• Need to develop policy and expand staff development support
• Need to document impacts and outcomes that will be perceived as valuable by the health care community – and develop their understanding of an empowerment approach
• Need to develop an assessment of practices and materials
• Need to develop an assessment test of functional health literacy
• How can we do participatory research with people who have lower literacy?
• How can we make research relevant to practitioners and policymakers?

Technology

• Use of Internet to communicate health information
• Media effects
• At times the medium can hinder the message. It is often necessary to teach adults how to use cancer education software and find reliable information on the Internet. Using these formats to educate patients with low levels of literacy is of interest to me.

Working in languages other than English

• We need to assess readability of material in French.

“While hospitals and other health care organizations are supposed to
address the needs of all clients (as supported by their policy documents),
this is rarely the case with respect to literacy issues.”