Training

Our Health Literacy Awareness Training will help you understand what health literacy is and the impact low health literacy has on patients and visitors. It will also give you practical techniques to use when interacting with patients and visitors. It is suitable for all staff, whatever your role, and may be particularly useful if you write patient information leaflets.

Resources referenced in training session

See under Videos tab for Videos.

Articles:

How we read on the web Available at Reading level – Style.ONS (no date) (Accessed 10th June 2021).

Berkman ND, Sheridan SL, Donahue KE, Halpern DJ, Viera A, Crotty K, et al. (2011) 'Health literacy interventions and outcomes: An updated systematic review', Evidence Report, Technology Assessment, (199).  

Buck D, Frosini F. (2012)  Clustering of unhealthy behaviours over time. Implications for policy and practice. London: King's Fund.

Dodson S, Beauchamp A, Batterham RW and Osborne RH. (2014)  Information sheet 1: What is health literacy? In Ophelia Toolkit: A step-by-step guide for identifying and responding to health literacy needs within local communities. Part A: Introduction to health literacy. Available at: https://www.ophelia.net.au/about-health-literacy. (Accessed 10th June 2021).

Knapp, P; Raynor, DK; Jebar, AH; Price, SJ. (2005) 'Interpretation of medication pictograms by adults in UK'. Ann Pharmacother, 39, pp. 1227-1233.

Nutbeam D. (2008) 'The evolving concept of Health Literacy'. Social Science and Medicine, 67(12), pp. 2072-8.

Public Health England. (2015) Local Action on Health Inequalities: Improving health literacy to reduce health inequalities. [Online]. Available at hl-and-hi-ucl.pdf (healthliteracyplace.org.uk) (Accessed 10th June 2021).

Raynor DK, Dickinson D. (2009) 'Key principles to guide development of consumer medicine information--content analysis of information design texts'. Ann Pharmacother 43, pp. 700-706.

Rowlands, G; Protheroe, J et al. (2015) 'Health literacy and health information in England: how big is the problem?', British Journal of General Practice, 65 (635), pp. e379-e386.

Further sources of information

Books

Please see the box below for recommended books

Journal Articles and Reports

Health Literacy: Definitions, Models and Overview

Trezona, A. et al. (2018) Progress in Implementing National Policies and Strategies for Health Literacy—What Have We Learned so Far? International Journal of Environmental research and Public  Health,15, 1544.   https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15071554 

Sorensen, K. & Pleasant, A. (2017) Understanding the Conceptual Importance of the Differences Among Health Literacy Definitions. Health Literacy Studies in Health Technology and Informatics    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28972505 

Sorensen et al. (2015) Health literacy in Europe: comparative results of the European health literacy survey (HLS-EU). Eur J Public Health. 2015 Dec;25(6):1053-8 https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckv043

Rowlands G. et al. (2015) A mismatch between population health literacy and the complexity of health information: an observational study. British Journal of General Practice 65 (635): e379-e386.   https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp15X685285  

Sorensen, K. et al. (2012) Health literacy and public health: A systematic review and integration of definitions and models. BMC Public Health, 12:80   https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-80

Health Literacy Outcomes

Stormacg, C. et al. (2019) Does health literacy mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status and health disparities? Integrative review. Health Promotion International.  Oct 1;34(5):e1-e17    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30107564

Panagioti, M. et al.(2018) Effect of health literacy on the quality of life of older patients with long-term conditions: a large cohort study in UK general practice. Quality of life research 27:1257-1268.    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-017-1775-2

Eichler, K. et al. (2009) The costs of limited health literacy: a systematic review. International Journal of Public Health, 54: 313-324   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-009-0058-2 

Health Literacy In Practice

Brooks, C. et al. (2019) Nursing and allied health professionals' views about using health literacy screening tools and a universal precautions approach to communication with older adults: a qualitative study. Disability and rehabilitation; Jan 2019; p. 1-7   https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2018.1538392 

Pitt, M. B. et al. (2019) Eradicating Jargon-Oblivion - A Proposed Classification System of Medical Jargon. Journal of General Internal Medicine.   https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-019-05526-1

Coleman et al. (2017)Prioritized Health Literacy and Clear Communication Practices For Health Care Professionals  https://doi.org/10.3928/24748307-20170503-01

Health Literate Organisations

Brach, C. et al. (2012) Ten Attributes of Health Literate Health Care Organizations. Institute of Medicine   https://doi.org/10.31478/201206a

Reports & Guidance

UK

NHS Scotland (2017) Making it Easier: A Health Literacy Action Plan for Scotland: 2017-2025 https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/strategy-plan/2017/11/making-easier-health-literacy-action-plan-scotland-2017-2025/documents/00528139-pdf/00528139-pdf/govscot%3Adocument/00528139.pdf

Public Health England/ UCL (2015) Local action on health inequalities: Improving health literacy to reduce health inequalities. 

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/460709/4a_Health_Literacy-Full.pdf

National Numeracy (2015) Numeracy for Health: Why improving numeracy levels is critical to creating a sustainable NHS and improving health outcomes in the UK. https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/research-numeracy-and-health

NHS Scotland (2014) Making it Easy: A Health Literacy Action Plan for Scotland: 2017-2025 http://www.gov.scot/resource/0045/00451263.pdf

Worldwide

Moreira, L. (2018), "Health literacy for people-centred care: Where do OECD countries stand?", OECD Health Working Papers, No. 107, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/d8494d3a-en.

WHO (2016) Promoting health in the SDGs  report on the 9th global conference for Health Promotion: all for health, health for all, 21–24 November 2016. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/259183/WHO-NMH-PND-17.5-eng.pdf?sequence=1

Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (2014) National Statement on Health Literacy: Taking action to improve safety and quality 

https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/sites/default/files/migrated/Health-Literacy-Taking-action-to-improve-safety-and-quality.pdf

Kickbusch, I. et al. (2013) WHO Health Literacy: The solid facts. http://www.euro.who.int/en/publications/abstracts/health-literacy.-the-solid-facts

Websites

The Health Literacy Place (NHS Scotland) http://www.healthliteracyplace.org.uk/

PIF (Patient Information Forum) https://pifonline.org.uk/

National Numeracy for Health https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/

Health Literacy UK https://www.healthliteracy.org.uk/

Tools and Techniques

Teach Back and Chunk & Check (available at The Heath Literacy Place) http://www.healthliteracyplace.org.uk/tools-and-techniques/techniques

Readability tool (SMOG calculator) https://www.learningandwork.org.uk/SMOG-calculator/smogcalc.php

Universal precautions toolkit. 2^nd edition. 2015 https://www.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/professionals/quality-patient-safety/quality-resources/tools/literacy-toolkit/healthlittoolkit2.pdf

Upcoming dates

All sessions take place via Teams

2023

Friday 17th February 1:30-2:30pm

Monday 6th March - 12:30-1:30pm

See below for booking form or email esneftlibrary@esneft.nhs.uk 

For more information tel. 01206 742146 ext. 2146 for Colchester and 01473 702544 ext. 1544 for Ipswich