Health Literacy

What is health literacy?

Health literacy involves the information that people need to be able to make good decisions about health. There are two parts:

• Personal health literacy is about how well a person can find and understand the health information and services that they need. It is also about using the information and services to make good health decisions.
• Organizational health literacy is about how well organizations help people find the health information and services that they need. It also includes helping them use that information to make good health decisions.

Which factors can affect health literacy?

Many different factors can affect a person's health literacy, including their:

• Knowledge of medical words
• Understanding of how the health care system works
• Ability to communicate with health care providers
• Ability to find health information, which may require computer skills
• Reading, writing, and number skills
• Personal factors, such as age, income, education, language abilities, and culture
• Physical or mental limitations

Many of the same people who are at risk for limited health literacy also have health disparities. Health disparities are health differences between different groups of people. These groups may be based on age, race, sex, or other factors.

Why is health literacy important?

Health literacy is important because it can affect your ability to:

• Make good decisions about your health.
• Get the medical care you need. This includes preventative care, which is care that focuses on preventing disease and keeping you healthy.
• Take your medicines correctly.
• Manage a disease, especially a chronic (long-term) disease.
• Lead a healthy lifestyle.

One thing that you can do is to make sure that you communicate well with your health care providers. If you don't understand something a provider tells you, ask them to explain it to you so that you understand. You can also ask the provider to write down their instructions.

Questions for your care team

General prompts to help prepare for your appointment.

• How does this information apply to my situation?
• Which symptoms or results need evaluation?
• Which tests are useful, and what can they tell us?
• What care options, benefits, and risks should we discuss?
• When should I seek urgent help, and whom should I call?
• When is follow-up, and how will we know whether the plan is working?