Week 10: Health Literacy

Health literacy was the focus of this week’s discussions, particularly how it relates to the social determinants of health, what population groups are most at risk of low health literacy, what health promotion strategies are currently available to improve health education and whether the material is appropriate for its intended groups. We also viewed an interview with Peter Ryan [Peter], who is vision impaired and discusses various issues relating to challenges people with disabilities face.

October is Health Literacy Month (Osborne, 1999).

I was truly inspired listening to Peter in relation to the challenges he has faced and overcome. I believe there is much to be learnt from him regarding how I can help to contribute to the health education of those at risk of low health literacy. Peter talks of simple measures nurses can do to improve the experiences of people with disabilities such as listening to, speaking with and acknowledging them. While these appear to be basic steps they will enhance the involvement of patients in their own care, improve their health outcomes and ultimately result in improved health literacy (Johnson, 2014).

The Commonwealth of Australia’s, Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care [the Commission] (2014, p. 2) advises the importance of health literacy is that it shapes people’s ability to understand, apply and make decisions about their health and health care. The Commission (2014, p. 2) also highlights, while individual health literacy is important, so is the health literacy environment, as it impacts on the way people access, understand, appraise and apply health-related information and services.  This includes the infrastructure, policies, processes, materials, people and relationships that make up the health system (The Commission, 2014, p. 2). I feel this relates to what Peter was stating in the interview, that while people with disabilities face poor health literacy due to various social issues, they are also impacted by inadequate health literacy environments, such as not being able to access buildings for medical appointments. Peter mentioned health promotion strategies such as Lifeline Australia and the Sunshine Coast Access Advisory Network  which are there to assist those who face various barriers with accessing health care and health literacy.

Sunshine Coast Access Advisory Network Logo [SCAAN] (2013).

By being aware of the barriers people can face, along with what health promotion strategies are available to assist them, I feel I will be able to ensure those with disabilities or other challenges are provided with the appropriate care that they are entitled to.

References

Commonwealth Government of Australia: Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. (2014). Health literacy: Taking action to improve safety and quality. Retrieved from http://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Health-Literacy-Taking-action-to-improve-safety-and-quality.pdf.

Johnson, A. (2014). Health literacy, does it make a difference?. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, 31(3), 39-45 7p. Retrieved from http://www.anf.org.au.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/.

Lifeline Australia. (2010). Lifeline main page. Retrieved from https://www.lifeline.org.au/.

Osborne, H. [Artist] (1999). October is health literacy month [Logo]. Retrieved from http://www.healthliteracymonth.org/.

Sunshine Coast Access Advisory Network [SCAAN] (Organisation). (2013). SCAAN logo. [Logo]. Retrieved from http://www.scaan.org.au/.