A very quick answer to Priscilla Grace Witte’s question concerning why fewer “health literacy” articles are in the ERIC database compared to the number in MEDLINE: The ERIC database indexes only 600 journals.  By comparison, 5,246 journals are currently indexed for MEDLINE (as of January 2008).

 

But I wonder what kind of ERIC search only got “a handful” of articles about health literacy.  I just did one (I searched for Health AND literacy in the Keyword field) and got a total of 1864 items.  When I browsed the titles and abstracts of the first 50 for the phrase “health literacy”, I found that many use the phrase, especially the newer ones.  

 

Some citations don’t have the phrase per se, but when I read the abstract (and descriptors), they are still highly relevant to the concept.  And some of these articles are not in MEDLINE.  For example, “ Numeracy, Ratio Bias, and Denominator Neglect in Judgments of Risk and Probability (EJ786722) by Reyna, Valerie F.; Brainerd, Charles J. Source:  Learning and Individual Differences, v18 n1 p89-107 2008.  Abstract:

"Numeracy," so-called on analogy with literacy, is essential for making health and other social judgments in everyday life [Reyna, V. F., & Brainerd, C. J. (in press) The importance of mathematics in health and human judgment: Numeracy, risk communication, and medical decision making. "Learning and Individual Differences."]. Recent research on numeracy in health decision making has shown that many adults fail to solve simple ratio and decimal problems, concepts that are prerequisites for understanding health-relevant risk communications….

 

So, especially since both ERIC and MEDLINE are free, I encourage researchers to always search both.

 

I hope this is helpful.

 

Marcia Zorn, M.A., M.L.S.

Reference Librarian, National Library of Medicine

 

 

 

From: Priscilla Witte [mailto:pgwitte at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 1:23 AM
To: The Health and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [HealthLiteracy 2161] Re: Health Literacy Curriculum

 

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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