NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY ARCHIVED CONTENT
THE PROBLEM: Literacy Level and Health Status
Low Literacy Level and Poor Health are Directly Linked - The Research Base:
90 Million Adults in the U.S. Have Limited Literacy Skills - The National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS)
- The NALS Study establishes that 45% of the U.S. population (90 million) people have extrememly limited (20%) or limited (25%) literacy skill concentrated in minority populations.
- Health People 2000 and Other Stategic Plans identify education as the key determinant for access to health education promotion activies and health services.
- Sudies in non-industrialized nations indicate direct relationship between literacy level and key health indicators.
- Studies in Canada by Perrin and in the U.S. by Davis, Weiss and Williams confirm interaction between literacy level and health, linking low reading level and poor health.
Health Education-Promotion Relies on Print Materials that Low Literacy Adults Cannot Understand
- Health education-promotion is a key strategy in today's health care.
- Most Health education-promotion material is in print form written at or above the 10th grade level
- Print materials frequently make cultural assumptions that are misleading or not understandable by different groups.
Therefore, the 90 million people who are in greatest need of health education-promotion do not benefit from current health education practice about prevention and early detection.
(This is an html description of the chart "The Problem: Literacy Level and Health Status" from the document "Empowerment Health Education in Adult Literacy: A Guide for Public Health and Adult Literacy Practitioners, Policy Makers and Funders" by Marcia Drew Hohn)
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