Improving Health Literacy  Tags: education literacy illiteracy health_literacy health_communications health_sciences health_behavior_and_health_education information_literacy  

There are several web sites which describe the types of behaviors which could signal low ability to read -- behaviors the professional can observe in the course of a typical encounter, without any formal testing. One of the best listings is:

From the Pfizer Clear Health Communication effort

Another from the Florida ABE Practitioners' Task Force Committee, see the title "If your patient can't read".

 If you are aware of other "signs", please add them to the Comments.

Reported in Morris, N. S., C. D. MacLean, et al. (2006). "The Single Item Literacy Screener: evaluation of a brief instrument to identify limited reading ability." BMC Family Practice 7: 21, available at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2296/7/21,  has been shown to perform moderately well in identifying patients who should be futher assessed.   

The Newest Vital Sign is a bilingual (English and Spanish) screening tool that identifies patients at risk for low health literacy. The tool can be administered in a clinical setting in just three minutes. The test result provides information about the patient that will allow providers to appropriately adapt their communication practices in an effort to achieve better health outcomes.

The Newest Vital Sign is free and easily available through the Pfizer Clear Health Communication Initiative.  That site also provides information on the development and validation of the tool.

The Columbia University of Nursing has information about health literacy assessment using the REALM and the TOHFLA.  Follow this link.

"This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. N01-LM-6-3503 with the University of Illinois at Chicago.”