Hi Everyone,

I was pleased to see that Monica's literature review showed more
emphasis on addressing health literacy through the providers. It seems
that we have been advocating that approach for a while, as the initial
efforts focusced on the "deficits" of adults' literacy skills, and
created an atmosphere of blame.

Anyway, while we areon the topic of addressing the patient's side of
understanding and accessing health care, today's question is about that.
We have talked a lot about working towar4ds imporving patients' literacy
and communication skills thorugh adult education. That is also a venue
that is well-suited to help people improve their confidence and
self-advocacy skills, which I believe is just as important. There is
also an ever-changing culture of health care here in the U.S. which
requires more and more participation and decision-making by the patient.

So today's question: How important do you all think confidence,
self-advocay, and adjusting to our culture of health care is for
patients, especially those with literacy and language challenges?

How can adult educators and others address this?

All the best,
Julie

Julie McKinney
Health Literacy List Moderator
World Education
jmckinney at worlded.org