Health Literacy Resources for Organizations:
- The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). This is a nationally
representative assessment of literacy among adults (age 16 and older) residing in
households and prisons in the United States.
http://nces.ed.gov/naal/
- The report, Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion. This reports defines
health literacy and its scope, identifies obstacles to creating a health literate public,
assesses and the approaches that have been attempted to increase health literacy.
http://newton.nap.edu/openbook/0309091179/html/
- Literacy and Health Outcomes-The report, Literacy and Health Outcomes, from
the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality offers a systematic review of
healthy literacy outcome studies published between 1980 and 2003.
Organizations or Programs:
- American Medical Association, Health Literacy: Help Your Patients Understand
In 1998, the American Medical Association became the first national medical
organization to adopt policy recognizing that limited patient literacy affects medical
diagnosis and treatment. The AMA Foundation has since been working to raise
awareness of health literacy within the health care community.
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/8115.html
Health Literacy Resources
- California Family Health Council, Inc (CFHC)
The EPA Division of the CFHC provides training in health literacy and technical
assistance in developing easy-to-read and easy-to-understand patient education
materials.
http://www.epahealth.org
- California Health Literacy Initiative
The goal of the California Health Literacy Initiative is to inform and partner with
individuals and organizations to positively impact the health and well being of
individuals with low literacy skills, their families, and their communities.
http:// www.cahealthliteracy.org
- Canadian Public Health Association: National Literacy and Health Program
The National Literacy and Health Program provides resources to help health
professionals serve clients with low literacy skills. The program focuses on health
information in plain language and clear verbal communication between health
professionals and their clients.
http://www.nlhp.cpha.ca/
- Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc.: Health Literacy Resources
Each of these fact sheets covers an important aspect of health literacy. The Center for
Health Care Strategies prepared these fact sheets in 1997 (revised in 2003). Since
then, the number of publications on health literacy has grown exponentially and the
issue is now being incorporated into the federal health policy agenda. Search under
the keyword “health literacy.”
http://www.chcs.org
- Center for Plain Language
http://www.centerforplainlanguage.org/
- Council of State Governments (CSG): State Official's Guide to Health Literacy
This guide reports the results of CSG's 2002 National Survey on Health Literacy
Initiatives, a national survey to find out what states are doing to improve health
literacy or to make the health care system easier to navigate. The Guide provides an
overview of state initiatives as well as information on relevant academic research
and successful private-sector initiatives. Readers will gain an understanding of the
problem, what can be done to improve health literacy, and how to make the current
health care system more accessible to someone with low health literacy. Search
under the keyword "health literacy."
http://www.csg.org
- Harvard School of Public Health: Health Literacy Studies
Health Literacy Studies (HLS) is a research program of the National Center for the
Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL). They are engaged in a variety of
activities, studies, and explorations linking health and literacy. Their work is based in
public health, health care settings, and adult education programs.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy/index.html
- Health Literacy Month: Promoting Understandable Health Communication
Around the World
Join with health literacy advocates around the world as, together, we promote the
need for understandable health information. Health Literacy Month is a grassroots
campaign in which individuals, organizations, and communities can participate in
ways that meet their specific needs.
http://www.healthliteracymonth.org
- Healthy People Library Project
The project is designed to provide minority groups and other consumers easy access
to current, reliable information on selected health topics at their local libraries. The
health literacy resources listed here have been reviewed and recommended by
librarians, health professionals, and other experts.
http://www.healthlit.org/health_resources/health_literacy.htm
- Institute for Healthcare Advancement
The Institute for Healthcare Advancement is a proactive organization engaging in
diverse, innovative, and successful methods of providing education that has a
positive impact on the future of health care for all populations. The current evolution
in the health care marketplace drives the need to educate both practitioners and
consumers on key health care issues and how to successfully address challenges in
accessing the health care system.
http://www.iha4health.org/healthliteracy.html
- Institute of Medicine of the National Academies: Health Literacy
Health literacy is where the expectations, preferences and skills of individuals
seeking health information meet the expectations, preferences and skills of
individuals providing information. Health literacy arises from a convergence of
education, health services, and social and cultural factors, and brings together
research and practice from diverse fields.
http://www.iom.edu/project.asp?id=3827
- National Institute for Literacy: Health & Literacy Special Collection
The Health & Literacy Special Collection is for teachers, students, health educators,
or anyone interested in health education for people with limited literacy skills.
http://www.worlded.org/us/health/lincs/
- National Libraries of Medicine Current Bibliographies 2000-01: Health Literacy
Each bibliography in the Current Bibliographies in Medicine (CBM) series covers a
distinct subject area of biomedicine and is intended to fulfill a current awareness
function. Citations are generally derived from searching a variety of online
databases.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/cbm/hliteracy.html
- National Network of Libraries of Medicine: Consumer Health Online Manual
The first portion of this bibliography contains print resources that discuss either
methods to assess the patient's reading ability or how to evaluate the readability of
materials. Some articles or chapters discuss both topics. The second portion of this
bibliography contains Web resources that discuss health literacy. Sources linking
people to information for patients with low literacy levels and to easy-to-read patient
handouts are listed.
http://www.nnlm.gov/scr/conhlth/read.htm
- NSW Multicultural Health Communication Service
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/health-public affairs/mhcs/publications/langindex.html
- Plain Language and Culture (PLC)
An organization providing leadership, advocacy, training development services of
plain language and health literacy educational materials and programs for
organizations and individuals that serve consumers and families from culturally and
linguistically diverse backgrounds. PLC offers these services in a manner that is
culturally and linguistically sensitive and responsive to the diverse
customers/consumers’ needs.
http://www.plculture.org
- Plain Language Network- site of the The Plain Language Association
International
http://www.plainlanguagenetwork.org
- Plain Language Gov (Federal Government Website)
http://www.plainlanguage.gov/usingPL/privsector/hidcost.cfm
- Partnership for Clear Health Communication: Ask Me 3
The Partnership for Clear Health Communication is a coalition of national
organizations that are working together to promote awareness and solutions around
the issue of low health literacy and its effect on health outcomes.
http://www.askme3.org/PFCHC
- Partnership for Clear Health Communication
Health literacy resources and membership for organizations.
http://www.p4chc.org/
- United States Department of Health and Human Services: Health Resources
and Services Administration (HRSA)
HRSA’s health literacy activities assist the Agency in accomplishing its mission: to
improve and expand access to quality health care for all. HRSA’s health care
delivery sites, along with training and education programs, work to reach out to those
with low health literacy skills to improve their quality of life.
http://www.hrsa.gov/quality/healthlit.htm
- World Education: Health and Literacy Compendium
The Health and Literacy Compendium is an annotated bibliography of print and
Web-based health materials for use with limited-literacy adults. The Compendium
was developed by World Education in collaboration with the National Institute for
Literacy.
http://www.worlded.org/us/health/docs/comp/
- Asian Health Services
This site serves and advocates for the immigrant and refugee Asian community
regarding
health rights and to assure access to health care services regardless of income,
insurance status, language, or culture.
http://www.ahschc.org/
- Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum
The Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum is a national advocacy
organization dedicated to promoting policy, program, and research efforts for the
improvement of health status of all Asian American and Pacific Islander
communities.
http://www.apiahf.org/
- Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO)
Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations: List of pamphlets
and other materials available in Chinese, Hmong, Ilocano, Khmer, Korean, Lao,
Mien, Samoan, Tagalog, Vietnamese. Materials can be ordered, and many are free.
http://www.aapcho.org/display.pl?template=pp_language
- Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations:
AAPCHO's BALANCE Program for Diabetes is designed to work cooperatively
with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of
Health's National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP). The primary activities are
aimed to increase the awareness of diabetes in AAPI communities, improve the
treatment and outcomes for AAPIs living with diabetes, promote early diagnosis, and
ultimately prevent the onset of diabetes.
http://www.aapcho.org/display.pl?template=pr_detail_curr&fkey=id&fval=45
- Hmong Health Website
This site is in development but includes a Hmong-English medical dictionary.
http://www.hmonghealth.org/
- Khmer Health Advocates
This website is dedicated to war survivors and their families and is committed to a
greater understanding of the physical and psychological illness that comes from war,
torture and genocide.
http://www.khmerhealthadvocates.org/about.asp?p=0
- National Library of Medicine, Asian-American Health
This website is an information portal to issues affecting the health and well being of
Asian Americans in the United States.
http://asianamericanhealth.nlm.nih.gov/
- Selected Patient Information Resources in Asian Languages (SPIRAL)
SPIRAL provides consumer information in Chinese, Cambodian, Vietnamese and
Laotian and teaches health care providers to use the wide variety of available, webbased
patient education resources.
http://www.library.tufts.edu/hsl/spiral
Plain Language Tools and Services for Organizations
- Easy to read asthma information in English and Spanish.
http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/asthma/resourcebank/
- Beyond the Brochure: Alternative Approaches to Effective Health Communication
This booklet is designed to help educators identify means of providing education to
limited literacy audiences that do not rely upon printed words. It includes
information on adapting, developing, and testing materials.
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/nbccedp/bccpdfs/amcbeyon.pdf
- Health Information Translations
http://www.healthinfotranslations.com/index.php
Iowa State University Extension and the Iowa Department of Public Health:
Tools for Evaluating Written and Audiovisual Nutrition Education Materials
Iowa State University Extension and the Iowa Department of Public Health jointly
developed two guides and evaluation forms to help nutrition educators, public health
nutritionists, and others select educational materials that best meet the needs of target
audiences.
http://joe.org/joe/2000august/tt3.html
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Plain Language and Culture
