Healthy People 2010 Health Communication Focus Area

Health Literacy Improvement

Consumer and Patient e-Health

Resources

Health Literacy Improvement

Health Literacy is the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.

Tools for improving health literacy

• Sample Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy
• Quick Guide to Health Literacy
• Quick Guide to Health Literacy and Older Adults
• Toolkit for Trainers: Teaching Older Adults How to Find Health Information on the Internet
• PowerPoint Slides
• Health Literacy chapter in Communicating Health: Priorities and Strategies for Progress

Government resources

• AHRQ Health Literacy and Cultural Competency Web site
• HRSA Health Literacy Web page
• NIH Health Literacy Web sites
  • Clear Communication: an NIH Health Literacy Initiative
  • NLM's Medline Plus: Health Literacy
  • National Library of Medicine Health Literacy Bibliography
  • National Library of Medicine's Search & Health Literacy Information Resources
  • National Network of Libraries of Medicine: Health Literacy
• Office of Minority Health: Think Cultural Health
• Plain Language Web site
• Usability Web site
• NAL: Health Literacy Resource List for Educators March 2007 [PDF - 155 kb]

Reports and research

• America’s Health Literacy: Why We Need Accessible Health Information (2008) [PDF file - 595 kb] (Issue Brief on the National Assessment of Adult Literacy)
• Health Literacy Town Hall Meeting Notes (2007-2008)
• Proceedings of the Surgeon General's Workshop on Improving Health Literacy (2006)
• Prevention Report: Focus on Health Literacy (2005)
• Plain Language: A Promising Strategy for Clearly Communicating Health Information and Improving Health Literacy (2005)
• Literacy and Health Outcomes (AHRQ) (2004)
• A Prescription to End Confusion (IOM) (2004)
• The Health Literacy of America's Adults: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy
  • Presentation of NAAL Health Literacy Results,
    Dr. Grover J. (Russ) Whitehurst
  • A First Look at the Literacy of America's Adults in the 21st Century
  • Key Concepts and Features of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL)
  • Assessing the nation's health literacy: Key concepts and findings of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (2008) [PDF - 2.0 MB]
• The Invisible Barrier: Literacy and Its Relationship with Oral Health [PDF - 1.1 MB]
• Healthy People 2010 Chapter 11, Health Communication (2000)

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Last updated: July 24, 2008