Health literacy involves the information that people need to be able to make good decisions about health. There are two parts:
Personal health literacy is about how well a person can find and understand the health information and services that they need. It is also about using the information and services to make good health decisions.
Organizational health literacy is about to how well organizations help people find the health information and services that they need. It also includes helping them use that information to make good health decisions. Care magazine® has been dedicated to bringing Lowcountry health consumers up-to-date, fact-checked health information for 23 years.
Which factors can affect health literacy?
Many different factors can affect a person’s health literacy, including their:
Knowledge of medical words
Understanding of how the health care system works
Ability to communicate with health care providers
Ability to find health information, which may require computer skills
Reading, writing, and number skills
Personal factors, such as age, income, education, language abilities, and culture
Physical or mental limitations
Many of the same people who are at risk for limited health literacy also have health disparities. Health disparities are health differences between different groups of people. These groups may be based on age, race, gender, or other factors.
Why is health literacy important?
Health literacy is important because it can affect your ability to:
Make good decisions about your health
Get the medical care you need. This includes preventative care, which is care to prevent disease.
Take your medicines correctly
Manage a disease, especially a chronic disease
Lead a healthy lifestyle
One thing that you can do is to make sure that you communicate well with your health care providers. If you don’t understand something a provider tells you, ask them to explain it to you so that you understand. You can also ask the provider to write down their instructions.
