The Art of Health Literacy
Where art meets science in patient education
What is Health Literacy?
Health literacy is the ability to read, understand, and act on healthcare information
Why is literacy important for health?
- Literacy is the single best predictor of health status. Many studies show there is a strong relation between health literacy and health outcomes, including emergency department use, hospitalizations, and even mortality
- To take action or change behavior, people must be able to understand the information
Health literacy is not just for poor readers
- Anyone can feel overwhelmed when some thing simply “looks” hard to read. And that is even more true when related to health information.
- Regardless of literacy skills, a medical setting may cause comprehension problems for all readers. Medical terms may be unfamiliar and can be difficult to understand–especially when combined with the physical or emotional stress of dealing with a new diagnosis or illness.
- All readers prefer materials that are easy to understand. Especially in today’s face-paced society, information needs to be delivered simply, quickly, and to the point.
Challenges facing low-literate readers
These readers may:
- Take words or instructions literally
- Read slowly and miss meaning
- Skip hard words
- Get lost in details
- Have difficulty finding the main point
- Tire quickly
- Feel overwhelmed if it “looks” hard to read
- Get frustrated and give up
- Low literacy is not a measure of intelligence. Many people with low literacy skills are highly intelligent and have created their own systems to function in the world while keeping their challenges hidden.
- Most people with low literacy skills rely on dialog and visual cues for interpretation
The art of health literacy
Creating health literate patient materials is more of an art than a science. It does NOT mean “dumbing down” the information. In fact, it is quite the opposite.
The aim is to create valuable education that will benefit those with low literacy skills, as well as all people who need to read, understand, and act on healthcare information.
Creating materials that are health literate, often called “plain language” characterized by:
- Common, everyday words except for necessary technical terms
- Personal pronouns (“we” and “you”)
- Active voice
- Logical organization
- An easy-to-read format, including bullets, tables and free use of whitespace.
But that is only the beginning. Contact us to learn more.
The role of design in health literacy
Materials must not only be easy to read, they must LOOK easy to read.
At times, the importance of design is underestimated. Visual cues are key to those with low literacy skill and must be considered when developing for health literacy.
Some principles for health literate design are more definitive and measureable, such as using serif fonts, or type being a minimum of 12 points, while others are more interpretive. That is where a skilled graphic artist can provide the greatest service. A properly trained designer will be able to balance the aims of health literacy with the foundation of good design.
The principles for health literacy design can be challenging for any artist, but it one that can be met with great success and appealing results. The fact is, if the material in not visually appealing, no one will bother to pick it up, let alone read it.