Abstract
The following article is devoted to investigation of such issue as health literacy and different possible ways to raise its level. Having analyzed media connected with this issue, it is possible to come to conclusion that it is very important question for public health leaders to call their attention to. Some possible actions of these leaders are outlined, analyzed and supported with examples. In the end of the article conclusion of health literacys vital character is made.
Media analysis
Health literacy is not the same as usual literacy, they are absolutely different notions. It is a set of skills which people should obtain with experience, while learning it on purpose. The ways of using insulin is not a common knowledge which everyone knows however, names of parts of a body is this kind of information. In Health Literacy the speaker underlines a great importance of this kind of literacy, underlining that health of a patient depends on it as without recognizing some processes he will not be able to follow doctors recommendations and recover. That is why some special questions are asked to a patient in order to make doctor sure that patient understood his prescriptions.
Ways health literacy might influence public health leaders
In these terms the a task for public health care leaders to accomplish appears. The trouble is that there are a lot of people which came to America and got used to absolutely different terms of medicine and culture. There are two ways in which health literacy can influence actions of public health care leaders. Firstly, they should separate people with poor literacy as it will be easier to deal with them. Secondly, they should take into account great diversity of population in the USA as each nationality has its own peculiarities and their health literacy is closely connected with some aspects of their culture.
Development of public health campaign
Under such conditions it is important to start campaign which main aim is to raise level of health literacy as usually it is just connected with knowledge of healthy eating (Zoellner, You, Connell, Smith-Ray, Allen, Tucker & Davy, 2011). It is usually a great challenge to all nations (Parker, Woelfel, Hart & Brown, 2009). However, it becomes easier with the development of mass media (Zarcadoolas & Pleasant, 2009). Information given by the media can have a great influence on development of this public campaign. First aim is to raise the level of health literacy among people which have poor knowledge. It is absolutely vital as very often they refuse to agree to a needed surgery, for example in case of cancer, just not being informed about it (Jibaja-Weiss, Volk, Granchi, Neff, Robinson, Spann & Beck, 2011). That is why it is vital to raise its level for people to be able to get needed service. Another direction of development of this company is understanding of cultural peculiarities of people and raising health literacy taking it into account. For example, it is vital to work with African American population and explain them symptoms of diabetes to prevent it (McCleary-Jones, 2011) or give some additional information about asthma to some national communities (Macy, Davis, Clark & Stanley, 2011).
Conclusion
With this in mind, it is possible to conclude that it is very important to raise the level of health literacy as it is extremely low and influences peoples health. It should be done taking into account cultural peculiarities of people and their level of general knowledge. New material should be explained using the Teach back method, while asking some questions connected with doctors prescriptions for the patient to answer and show his understanding of the issue.
Reference List
Health Literacy.
Jibaja-Weiss, M. L., Volk, R. J., Granchi, T. S., Neff, N. E., Robinson, E. K., Spann, S. J., & Beck, J. (2011).Entertainment education for breast cancer surgery decisions: A randomized trial among patients with low health literacy. Patient Education and Counseling, 84(1), 41-48.
Macy, M. L., Davis, M. M., Clark, S. J., & Stanley, R. (2011). Parental Health Literacy and Asthma Education Delivery During a Visit to a Community-Based Pediatric Emergency Department: A Pilot Study. Pediatric Emergency Care, 27(6), 469.
McCleary-Jones, V. (2011). Health Literacy and Its Association with Diabetes Knowledge, Self-Efficacy and Disease Self-Management Among African Americans with Diabetes Mellitus.ABNF Journal, 22(2), 25-32.
Parker, J., Woelfel, R., Hart E., & Brown, G. (2009). The Challenge of Health Care and Disability. Health Communication in the New Media Landscape. Ed. Parker, J. & Thorson, E. New York, NY: Springer.
Zarcadoolas, C. & Pleasant, A. (2009). Health Literacy in the Digital World. Health Communication in the New Media Landscape. Ed. Parker, J. & Thorson, E. New York, NY: Springer.
Zoellner, J., You, W., Connell, C., Smith-Ray, R. L., Allen, K., Tucker, K. L., & Davy, B. M.(2011). Health Literacy Is Associated with Healthy Eating Index Scores and Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake: Findings from the Rural Lower Mississippi Delta. Journal of the American Dietetic Association,111(7), 1012-1020.