Overview

This training:

• Introduces the concept of health literacy
• Provides strategies for considering literacy when creating public health messages for the general public
• Provides strategies for considering literacy in direct public health services to the public

The course consists of two modules.

The first module, “Health Literacy & Public Health ” contains four sections. The content and activities demonstrates how the public’s literacy skills affect interactions with medical and public health staff.

The second module, “Strategies for Improving Public Health Communications” contains two sections and provides practical techniques for addressing literacy issues in spoken and written communications.

Objectives

After completing the course, the learner will be able to:

• Define fundamental literacy.
• Define health literacy.
• Describe how health literacy relates to public health.
• List the four domains of health literacy.
• Give an example of each of the four domains of health literacy.
• List some coping strategies people use to compensate for their low literacy skills.
• List some groups that are more likely to be less literate.
• List some reasons why people may have low literacy.
• List the consequences of low health literacy for individuals.
• Describe why people, regardless of literacy skills, may fail to understand health information.
• Give examples of how low literacy affects the essential services of public health.
• List seven barriers to good communication in public health.
• Provide an example for each barrier.
• List seven techniques to improve health communication.
• Define plain language.
• Describe three communication strategies you can apply in your daily work.