Health Literacy Seminar June 25th 2015

1. Health Literacy
Policies to embed health literacy in the
health and social care system
25 June 2015

2. What approaches might we take?
2
Decide what we’re embedding
Life course
Outreach
Making it easy
Building capability
Taking opportunities
Measurement

3. 3

4. Decide what we are embedding
4
Source: Prof Judy Hibbard, University of Oregon
Health literacy is about people having the
knowledge, skills, understanding and
confidence to use health information, to be
active partners in their care, and to navigate
health and social care systems. Scottish
Government
Empowerment
Participation
Compliance
Critical
Interactive
Functional

5. Decide what we are embedding
5
Critical health literacy does not require functional health
literacy.
Access to information and
the capacity to use it

6. Life Course: transitions
6
21st century framework, Iowa
• civic literacy
• employability skills
• financial literacy
• health literacy
• technology literacy
• 21st century skill framework
https://iowacore.gov/iowa-core/subject/21st-century-skills
Health literacy as literacy and numeracy applied in a health context.
• Maternity
• Education
• Unemployment
• Retirement
NHS, local government, employers, VCS

7. Outreach: in the community
7
• Skills for Life – strategy for improving adult literacy and
numeracy skills: now a web resource
• Skilled for Health – national programme that embeds Skills for
Life learning into health improvement topics
• Ophelia (Optimising health literacy to improve health and equity)
– collaboration of communities and workers to develop health
literacy interventions that are based on needs identified within a
community
• Identification of health literacy strengths and limitations of
community
• Co-creation of health literacy interventions
• Implementation, evaluation, support

8. Making it easy: system re-design
8
Making it easy: A Health Literacy Action
Plan for Scotland

9. Making it easy: information
redesign
9
• Information Standard and Accessible
Information Standard
• Integration into care pathways
• Shared space to design it once – role of
voluntary sector and other information
providers
• jargon-free copies of clinic/discharge
correspondence
• test results in meaningful and accessible
formats
• tailoring information

10. Building capability
10
• Jargon-free oral communication
• Checking understanding – teach back, chunk and check
• Core curriculum in education, training and CPD
• Navigators, coaches etc

11. Taking opportunities: service
contact
11
• Sure Start
• Recovery Colleges
• EPP, SMP, DAFNE, DESMOND etc
• Preference sensitive decisions

12. Measurement: what’s the difference?
12
• Understandable and meaningful
• Impactful