Why is it that only two students from the school of education have taken your class? I would have expected more. I also wonder why there are only small handful of articles about health literacy in the ERIC database (contrasted by the thousands in MEDLINE).

 
The 26 matches in ERIC include excellent articles by Rima Rudd and
Lilian Hill, and several other articles that appeared in health education and school
health journals, but it seems as if a literacy issue that affects the
quality and length of life should generate much interest. Since low
levels of health literacy takes a toll on the health care system in
terms of costs, and also takes a toll on underserved people in terms of
suffering, wouldn't it be a win-win situation to focus more on health literacy in adult education centers. What needs to happen...better funding? 

Priscilla Grace Witte
Northern Illinois University



--- On Tue, 7/15/08, Rima Rudd <rrudd at hsph.harvard.edu> wrote:
From: Rima Rudd <rrudd at hsph.harvard.edu>
Subject: [HealthLiteracy 2138]   Re: Health Literacy Curriculum
To: healthliteracy at nifl.gov
Date: Tuesday, July 15, 2008, 12:57 PM

Hi Julie,
This course is offered at the Harvard School of Public Health. Over the years,
students have come from the MPH program [students with an MD returning to
school for a public health degree;
 more recently students who completed their
third year of medical school, taking a year off to do an MPH and then return to
medical school] and from the ScM program. I've had only two students come
over from the school of education. 
Hope this is helpful.
Rima

Rima E. Rudd, ScD, MSPH
Department of Society, Human Development & Health
Harvard School of Public Health
677 Huntington Avenue
Boston MA 02115
Phone: 617 432 1135
fax:     617 432 3123
web:    www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy
www.hsph.harvard.edu/sisterstogether


>>> "Julie McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org>

7/15/2008 1:44 PM >>>
Rima,

What kind of people take this graduate course? Are they mostly from the
health or public health field, education, or other fields? Are they
usually at the beginning of their career or coming back to learn about
health literacy to help them in their current
 field?

I'm curious how people out there are using the different kinds of health
literacy trainings.

Thanks,
Julie

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

>>> "Rima Rudd" <RRUDD at hsph.harvard.edu> 07/15/08 9:50

AM >>>
Hello again,
As many of you know, I developed a graduate course on health literacy
here at the Harvard School of Public Health in 1992 and have been
offering versions of such a course over the years. Here is a course
syllabus brief from this year's offering:
Health Literacy
Dr. Rima E. Rudd with Dr. Alexa McCray
Format: The course is designed as a discussion seminar. Participants
share responsibility for reading analyses and for presentations.
Participants are expected to engage in a site visit, to prepare an
observation report, and to develop a course project. 

Content: 
Course
 participants are introduced to the multi-layered links between
literacy and health. Course readings, projects, and discussions will
enable participants to:
1. Become familiar with national and international statistics on
literacy and health literacy with particular attention to functional
measures
o	Examine and assess functional literacy measures from the NALS,
IALS, NAAL and ALLS
o	Examine and assess commonly used ‘health literacy’ assessment
tools 
2. Explore links between literacy and health disparities
o	Define vulnerable population groups
o	Evaluate health outcome studies
3. Examine literacy related demands and barriers
o	Apply and assess tools used to measure print materials 
o	Conduct analyses of materials and environments to identify
literacy related barriers
4. Become familiar with key health reports from the Department of Health
and Human Services, the Institute of Medicine, the Agency
 for Healthcare
Research and Quality, the Educational Testing Service, and the Joint
Commission as well as selected white papers on health literacy. 
o	Define health literacy and its scope
o	Delineate research findings and gaps  
5. Examine and assess an array of health literacy programs and studies
o	Define underlying pedagogies
o	Identify best practices 
 
Course participants engage in and report on analysis of readings and
structured assignments to familiarize them with the environment of
health facilities and of the demands of health materials. Course
readings are drawn from key reports and texts. The required texts are
available at the coop. Reports can be downloaded from the appropriate
link on the internet.  Finally, participants are expected to become
familiar with the HSPH Health Literacy website: 
www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy 

Required Texts:
●	Doak, Doak, Root, Teaching
 Patients with Low Literacy Skills [on
line at www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy ]
●	Purcell-Gates, Other People’s Words [available at the coop]
●	IOM, Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion [available
at the coop and on-line].

Required Reports 
●	MassINC: New Skills for a New Economy: Adult Education’s Key
Role in Sustaining Economic Growth and Expanding Opportunity.
●	NCSALL: Building a Level Playing Field: The Need to Expand and
Improve the National and State Adult Education and Literacy Systems
[www.ncsall.net]
●	HALL/NCSALL: Health Literacy Study Circles [available at
www.ncsall.net or www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy  under the
heading: curriculum]
●	Health and Human Services Publication: Communicating Health
http://odphp.osoph.dhhs.gov/projects/healthcomm 
●	Educational Testing Services: Literacy and Health in
 America
http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/PICHEATH.pdf [link available on
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy 
	under the heading: reports] 
●	Educational Testing Services: The International Adult Literacy
Surveys: Understanding What Was Measured [http://www.ets.org]
●	Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Literacy and Health
Outcomes, Evidence Report/Technology Assessment Number 87
http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/evidence/pdf/literacy/literacy.pdf 
●	The Joint Commission, ‘What did the doctor say?’: Improving
Health Literacy to Protect Patient Safety. 
http://www,jointcommission.org 

Rima Rudd

Rima E. Rudd, ScD, MSPH
Department of Society, Human Development & Health
Harvard School of Public Health
677 Huntington Avenue
Boston MA 02115
Phone: 617 432 1135
fax:     617 432 3123
web:    www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy
 
www.hsph.harvard.edu/sisterstogether 
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