Health Literacy

A monthly podcast series. Helen Osbourne, health literacy expert interviews "those in the know" about a variety of health literacy topics.

This video looks at issues of health literacy and patients' understanding of health information that applies to their care.

The resources on this page briefly explain literacy and numeracy and how they are measured in national education surveys.

Excellent resource describing health literacy. Also contains video of Dr. Rima Rudd 's 2014 lecture about health literacy.

Users of the site can find research articles, policy, reports, initiatives, strategies, and tools regarding health literacy.

Provides professional and consumer information about health communication, health literacy, and e-health.

Health literacy expert Helen Osborne provides tips and advice about health literacy on her webpage.

The toolkit provides a comprehensive overview of health literacy. Also provided are sample easy to read forms and letters for providers to use in their practice.

Provides ten-year national objectives for improving the health of all americans. Included are health literacy objectives.

A non-profit organization dedicated to empowering people to better health. A great resource to learn more about health literacy. You can also sign up for their health literacy listserv.

The Roundtable on Health Literacy envisions a society in which the demands of the health and health care systems are respectful of and aligned with people’s skills, abilities, and values. The mission of the Roundtable is to inform, inspire, and activate a wide variety of stakeholders to support the development, implementation, and sharing of evidence-based health literacy practices and policies. The goal is to improve the health and well-being of all people.

The purpose of the action plan is to engage organizations, professionals, and individuals in an effort to improve health literacy.

Learn more about health literacy. Contains links to other health literacy resources.

Provides information for healthcare professionals, researchers, and patients and families about health literacy.

Contains the short Assessment of Health Literacy–Spanish and English; Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine—Short Form (REALM-SF); and Short Assessment of Health Literacy for Spanish Adults (SAHLSA-50)

Online database of health literacy measures. The site contains information about measures, including their psychometric properties,

The Newest Vital Sign (NVS) is a valid and reliable screening tool available in English and Spanish that identifies patients at risk for low health literacy. It is easy and quick to administer, requiring just three minutes. In clinical settings, the test allows providers to appropriately adapt their communication practices to the patient’s health literacy level. Researchers have used the instrument to measure health literacy and evaluate the impact of low health literacy on a variety of health outcomes.

A free online readability calculator.

Assess material with this checklist.

Links to readability tools: The PMOSE/IKIRSCH Document Readability Formula, The SMOG, and the SAM.

Assess readability of patient education material with the PEMAT-P

Explains how to use the SMOG readability formula.

Use the SAM to assess readability of materials.