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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Rima Rudd, MSPH, ScD, Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Kresge 719, Boston, MA 02115, 617 432 1135, rrudd@hsph.harvard.edu

Public health information, messages and materials are designed to enable individuals and communities to be aware of and respond to important issues and emerging events. Health communication is based on the premise that the public needs to be aware, assured, informed, and provided with tools for action. Faulty or limited communication curtails knowledge and awareness and also hampers civic engagement and action. The Institute of Medicine report on health literacy notes that health literacy is an interaction between social demands and individuals' skills. When there is a mismatch between the reading grade level of materials, for example, and the documented average skills of US adults, then there is a clear access barrier in place. Access to information is a basic right in today's information saturated society. Unnecessarily constructed communication barriers violate rights and ignore issues of social justice. Consideration of literacy demands and literacy skills must be a critical component of health communication efforts.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the literacy skills of the US adult population and over time (1992-2003)
• Define the match/mismatch between literacy skills and social demands and the supporting evidence
• Identify the literacy related barriers to information, care and patient rights

Keywords: Health Literacy, Access to Care

Related Web page: www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No