SHARES
“My doctor told me that my daughter has asthma. That is all I know. For the next few minutes of conversation I have not the faintest idea what he was talking about! After a few days, I’m surprised that the doctor sent a device that looks like a humidifier to my home. Would this help my daughter? Shouldn’t sick people be taking pills?” Jane, 24, feels anxious for not understanding the doctor’s treatment plan for her little girl.
In fact, being armed with health information or acquiring health literacy is crucial for us to take good care of ourselves. Health information empowers and enables each and everyone to make informed health decisions.
Health Information and Health Literacy
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, health literacy means the ability of individuals to obtain, process, and understand health information in order to make informed decisions. Studies show that low health literacy relates to poor health. It becomes especially worrying when the general public have low health literacy. In the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, only 65% of American adults score an intermediate level on health literacy, while 22% have basic level of understanding, another 14% are below basic level.
Generally, members of the public have a poor understanding of food labels. Similarly, it is the same for vaccination, routine screenings, or even your own disease treatment and medication too. This becomes a great hindrance towards disease prevention and health promotion. Worse still, a poorly informed person may face difficulty in getting proper healthcare services when sick. It is an even bigger problem in cases of chronic illnesses. Because if there is no good understanding of the health consequences, there is a careless tendency towards poor medication compliance and neglect for medical follow-ups.
Thus far, improving the nation’s health literacy is the corner stone for a healthcare system that promotes healthy behaviours and prevents illnesses.
Photo by Nancy Ripton from Flickr
Cultural And Language Challenges
Health literacy level is usually lower among the non-native speakers of a nation as well as the dwelling ethnic and racial minorities, refugees and immigrants. Such cultural and language differences form barriers against effective communication between healthcare professionals and such patients. It is important for healthcare service providers to understand the local cultural context, mother tongue and non-verbal language to better care for the community.
A generation gap proves a challenge too. Often, elderly people are being left out when making treatment decision. As a result, people lose trust in the care given and struggle to comply. Of a bigger challenge are those with less economic means. They may scarcely find time, energy or materials to afford healthcare services, let alone health literacy.
Hence, healthcare professionals play important roles in identifying those who need help or have poor access to health information. To plug the gap of understanding, it is worthwhile to test and listen to what the patient know about his/her medication, its purpose, and how to use it.
Medical Jargons
Imagine someone who is previously well, is being newly diagnosed with diabetes. How does it feels like hearing unfamiliar new words like “insulin”, “fasting blood sugar”, “glycemic index”, “HbA1C”, “hypertension”, “carbohydrates”, “cholesterol”, “hypoglycemia” or “metabolic syndrome”? These are medical terminology that are good for precise communication between healthcare professionals. But, these are hard to understand or remember for the patient. Using too much medical jargon when talking to a layperson can overwhelm the listener and make the conversation rather boring.
Whatever a doctor says only matter when it makes sense to the listener. Or else, the receiver would fail to make any meaningful decision based on the information given. If a doctor’s advice does not reach the patient’s understanding, it is the same as if the person is never treated. There are variety of tools and methods to share information, be it verbal, written, visual, audio etc.
Photo by Living Goods from Flickr
Conclusion
Everyone has the right to health information for making informed decisions. Researches are showing the importance of education to patients, enabling them to become active participants in co-managing their own health. It does matter how the information is delivered to derive meaningful understanding and motivation.
References:
1. Bowen DJ. Steps for improving health literacy [Internet]. Haymarket Media. 2020. (Available from: https://www.clinicaladvisor.com/home/topics/practice-management-information-center/steps-for-improving-health-literacy/; last updated on 2016 May 6; last accessed on 2020 Oct 10)
2. Benjamin RM. Improving health by improving health literacy. Public Health Rep. 2010 Nov-Dec; 125(6): 784-5. doi: 10.1177/003335491012500602
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by Chang Xian
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