Health Literacy

 

 

 

Health Literacy and Aging: Building Capacity through Faculty Development

 

Many among North Carolina’s diverse populations of older adults are faced with persistent health disparities. Although there are many reasons for these challenges, low patient health literacy is certainly a factor, as is the limited understanding of health literacy by practitioners. Adults with low health literacy have less health-related knowledge, manifest poorer control of their chronic illnesses, are less likely to receive preventive health services, more likely to be hospitalized, and have greater rates of mortality. (DeWalt, Berkman et al. 2004; Sudore, Yaffe et al. 2006) Low health literacy is common among the older adults, including those in North Carolina.

In response, the CGEC conducted a faculty development program in Health Literacy and Aging during the spring and summer of 2008, and is developing curriculum for dissemination. The program is a one-year, 24-hour course directed toward health professions faculty who teach at AHECs, in the University, and in colleges and community colleges throughout the state. Participants include the disciplines of nursing, medicine, social work, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nutrition, health education, health administration, speech and language sciences, dentistry, dental hygiene, rehabilitation counseling, psychology, and health law. The initial trainee cohort included ten trainees.

It is anticipated that ten to twelve faculty members will be trained each year. We expect the program to have far-reaching impact on the health of older North Carolinians. This will be accomplished largely through the efforts of trainees to broadly disseminate health literacy principles through their teaching and educational program development and through the changes they make to improve patient care and service systems.

Competencies Developed by Participants:

  • Communicates the impact of low health literacy on patient/client outcomes
  • Demonstrates clarity, simplicity and cultural relevance in health communications with patients and/or clients
  • Guides students and other learners in formulating clear health communications in providing care
  • Evaluates health system barriers that add to risk of negative outcomes and applies corrective actions to prevent, detect and/or correct them

References

--DeWalt, D. A., Berkman, N.D. et. al. (2004). Literacy and health outcomes: a systematic review of the literature. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 19: 1228-1239.

--Sudore, R. L., Yaffe, K., et al. (2006). Limited literacy is associated with mortality in the elderly: the health, aging, and body composition study. Journal of General Internal Medicine 21(8): 806-812.