Nuestra Salud Project: A health literacy initiative to improve the health and wellness of immigrant populations

Background: Health literacy has been recognized as a widespread public health problem over the recent years. Individuals with low health literacy lack the skills to locate health services and act upon health information. Low health literacy is tied to poor patient-doctor communication leading to inefficiencies in proper patient treatment. Immigrants are more susceptible to low health literacy. Activities/Methods: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded the Northern New Jersey Maternal/Child Health Consortium (NC) and the Hispanic Institute for Research and Development (HIRD) to develop the Nuestra Salud (NS) program to promote health literacy in New Jersey. NS targets immigrants enrolled in HIRD's ESL classes. Each learner is provided with 5 hours of health and wellness topics from the “Expecting the Best” curriculum, during a 40-hour ESL course. A pre & post evaluation is conducted to measure the student's health knowledge each cycle. Results: NS has trained 13 ESL instructors on the implementation of “Expecting the Best” curriculum. A total of 684 students have participated in NS. Pre & post evaluation results have shown an increase in knowledge in all classes. Additionally, 24 health workshops on relevant health topics have been offered throughout a 3 year period to enhance health literacy among ESL students. Conclusion: The Nuestra Salud Project plans that “Expecting the Best” curriculum will continue to be utilized in ESL courses throughout New Jersey. Instructors are strongly encouraged to integrate health literacy topics in their courses to strengthen the student's ability to make informed decisions regarding preventative health.