Health Literacy and Informatics

Health Literacy and Informatics

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Health Literacy and Informatics

Health literacy is directly related to health outcomes. Indeed, individuals who can obtain, process, and comprehend fundamental health information are likely to make better health decisions when compared to others (Weiss et al., 2005). It is in this regard that health measurement tools are utilized to understand the levels of literacy in a population. This reflection paper focuses on the process and results of administering and scoring a health literacy assessment to a family member. The barriers, the individual’s level of health literacy, communication methods, and reflection of the process are described.

Barriers

The health literacy assessment process was defined by two major barriers. The first one was finding the right time to administer the test.  The family member was pre-occupied with other activities, making it daunting for them to concentrate on the task. I overcame the barrier by conducting the discussing the reason behind the tests using online-based tools. The individual was hence ready to set aside time for the process. The second barrier is that the instrument was not tailored to the respondent’s capacity to understand the process. The family member is young and may understand different health concepts differently from an older person. I overcome the barrier by expounding on the concepts and communicating appropriately.

Level of Health Literacy

Before conducting the assessment, I had assumed that it would be easy for the individual to understand most of the concepts. They had gone through some community-based educational programs on health including the impact of substance abuse and lifestyle changes linked to prevention of cancer. It was therefore surprising that they could not score well when the information was presented in form of a test. It implies that the perception of health-based tests may have impacted their score. A health practitioner could interpret this to mean that an individual is process unaware of the basic health related concepts, given that the person scored below average.

Communication

I communicated the results to the family member by making a phone call and sending an email. I felt that explaining the score presented on the email through a call could have been instrumental in positive reception of the results. It also opened an opportunity to discuss some of the health-related concepts in detail. The family member received the findings well and further showed interest in going through similar tests in the future. Nonetheless, they felt that they could score better if the tests were structured differently.

Reflection

Completing this assignment helped to learn three main lessons. First, I realized that health literacy is not as common as I assumed. The educational programs conducted at community levels may not be adequate enough to help patients to relate various concepts. As Weiss et al. (2005) indicate, it could result to poor patient outcomes such as the increased costs of care and hospitalizations. In this light, there is a need to change the method and content used in health literacy programs. Second, I noticed that the validity and reliability of a health assessment will impact the outcomes and relevance of the results. The existing assessment may fail to take into consideration the individual- based limitations such as age and cultural issues. As such, the score may fail to represent the actual levels of literacy in individuals. Third, I realized that the healthcare practitioners need to prepare adequately before conducting health literacy assessments. They must consider the possible barriers and find ways of overcoming them in advance.

Reference

Weiss, B. D., Mays, M. Z., Martz, W., Castro, K. M., DeWalt, D. A., Pignone, M. P., Mockbee, J. & Hale, F. A. (2005). Quick assessment of literacy in primary care: The newest vital sign. Annals of Family Medicine, 3(6), 514-522.