Health literacy — commonly defined as the skills and abilities needed to gain access to, understand, and use health-related information — has emerged as an important priority for the United States. It has been linked to health outcomes and is considered critical for the success of health care reform. The recently released National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy provides

strategies for change.

At first blush, this task may seem to be the domain of educators, but the new action plan shifts the spotlight from the literacy skills of the public to the activities of health systems and health care professionals, highlighting the importance of removing literacy-related barriers to health. It calls on health professionals and public and private partners to take action to ensure access to accurate and usable health information and to implement systemic changes to enhance health literacy.

The research responsible for putting health literacy on the policy agenda has, until recently, focused primarily on patients' literacy skills and health outcomes. Efforts to understand possible links between the two began in the late 1990s, soon after national and international surveys of adult literacy skills were completed. The Department of Education generated headlines in 1993 and again in 2005 with findings that half the adult population of the United States has difficulty using commonly available print materials to accomplish everyday tasks. These analyses spurred health researchers to consider possible health consequences.

Subsequently, researchers began to measure people's literacy skills, examine links to health-related knowledge and behavior, and assess the extent to which literacy level predicts health outcomes. This work began to illuminate the well-established but still unexplained pathway from educational attainment to health. (This article summary only - Only for member), to get the full text please login or register and contact admin web)

By: Rudd RE, The New England Journal Of Medicine, 1533-4406, 2010 Dec 9, Vol. 363, Issue 24

 

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