Health literacy builds resilience among individuals and communities

Health is created in the context of everyday life, and health literacy originates in and helps shape the sociocultural context in which people live. Empowerment, equity, co-production and cultural capital have been shown to be positively associated with people’s health.

Impacts of a word-picture training on literacy skills in elementary school children and youths with intellectual disabilities

Objective: There is convincing evidence that phonological, orthographic and semantic processes influence children’s ability to learn to read and spell words. So far only a few studies investigated the influence of implicit learning in literacy skills. Children are sensitive to the statistics of their learning environment. By frequent reading they acquire implicit knowledge about the frequency of letter patterns in written words, and they use this knowledge during reading and spelling. Additionally, semantic connections facilitate to storing of words in memory. Thus, the aim of the intervention study was to implement a word-picture training which is based on statistical and semantic learning. Furthermore, we aimed at examining the training effects in reading and spelling in comparison to an auditory-visual matching training and a working memory training program. Participants and Methods: One hundred and thirty-two children aged between 8 and 11 years participated in training in three weekly session of 12 minutes over 8 weeks, and completed other assessments of reading, spelling, working memory and intelligence before and after training. Results: Results revealed in general that the word-picture training and the auditory-visual matching training led to substantial gains in reading and spelling performance in comparison to the working-memory training. Although both children with and without learning difficulties profited in their reading and spelling after the word-picture training, the training program led to differential effects for the two groups. After the word-picture training on the one hand, children with learning difficulties profited more in spelling as children without learning difficulties, on the other hand, children without learning difficulties benefit more in word comprehension. Conclusions: These findings highlight the need for frequent reading trainings with semantic connections in order to support the acquisition of literacy skills.

[Health literacy : An introduction to the concept and its measurement].

Over the last 20 years, health literacy (German: Gesundheitskompetenz/health competency) has become a popular concept in research and health policy. Initially defined as an individual's ability to understand medical information, the definition has quickly expanded to describe individual-based resources for actions or conduct relevant to health, in different socio-cultural or clinical contexts. Today, researchers and practice experts can draw on a wide variety of definitions and measurements. This article provides an overview of the definitions, briefly introduces the "structure and agency" approach as an example of theorizing health literacy, and shows different types of operationalization. The article presents the strengths and shortcomings of the available concepts and measures and provides starting points for future research in public health and health promotion.

Improving Health Literacy in Connecticut: A Prescription for Healthy Lives and Communities

The Practicum Project is a supervised service-learning experience that integrates curriculum with hands-on experience in a public health setting. All 2nd year students are expected to work collaboratively in assessing the extent, causes and public health responses to a selected public health problem confronting citizens of Connecticut. The focal topic for the 2006 Project was Health Literacy in Connecticut. During this past spring, 17 students of our program, working alongside and in partnership with more than 75 community-based stakeholders across Connecticut, completed over 1800 hours of service-learning in pursuit of answers to 3 questions: Can the present and future burden of health literacy be estimated for Connecticut? What is the current capacity of Connecticut’s health and social service system to halt the crisis we confront today? Can new policy and regulatory strategies be put forth to reduce the severity and scope of the problem? This occasion and the accompanying report mark the completion of their project and acknowledge the considerable contributions that many have made to the success of this educational experience. Through those combined efforts, students gained experience and skill addressing one of the most significant public health issues of our time; also, they gained insight into the breadth and capacity of our public health system and established invaluable relationships with public health practitioners, agencies and institutions around the state. Their report documents a rich campus-community partnership to advance public health goals.

Revisiting health literacy and its impact on patient-physician communication

Objective. To review professional literature on health literacy and its impact on patient-physician communication, to describe significant literature on this issue, and to summarize implications of the findings from this literature. Design. Update of a review of literature. Data sources: MEDLINE. Review Methods. Articles dealing with the impact of health literacy on patient-physician communication were selected. The articles addressed at least one of four criteria on the subject: prevalence of the problem; effect of health literacy on patient-physician communication; association of health literacy to health outcomes; and interventions to enhance communication with patients exhibiting limited health literacy. Results. Approximately 623 articles were selected for review; 87 were fully reviewed and found to be relevant to the issue; and 25 articles were cited. Conclusion. Limited health literacy is extremely widespread throughout the U.S., particularly among specific populations. Providers must be aware that patients often process health care decision making differently from their own familiar procedures and that by taking the steps to make medical language and health information simpler and the time to confirm patient understanding, health outcomes of limited health literacy populations will improve. ^

Society, family and learning. The role of home literacy environments

This paper explores the relation between society, family, and learning. In particular, it addresses the features of home literacy environments in low income families and their impact on children's pre-literacy skills and knowledge. Sixty-two four/five-year-old children and their mothers were randomly selected for this study. The mothers were interviewed using an adaptation of a family literacy environment survey (Whitehurst, 1992). The children were assessed with specific tests to examine the scope of their 'early literacy'. The results revealed significant variability in the features and practices of home literacy environments as well as in the children's emerging pre-literacy skills and knowledge. The correlation between the two variables shows low to moderate statistical significance. The implications of such findings are discussed. Additionally, the purpose of isolating relevant features of the children and their home environments is to identify specific indicators related to the literacy fostering process. Ultimately, the goal is to design adequate, timely, and systematic intervention strategies aimed at preventing difficulties related to written language learning in children that could be considered at risk.

Society, family and learning. The role of home literacy environments

This paper explores the relation between society, family, and learning. In particular, it addresses the features of home literacy environments in low income families and their impact on children's pre-literacy skills and knowledge. Sixty-two four/five-year-old children and their mothers were randomly selected for this study. The mothers were interviewed using an adaptation of a family literacy environment survey (Whitehurst, 1992). The children were assessed with specific tests to examine the scope of their 'early literacy'. The results revealed significant variability in the features and practices of home literacy environments as well as in the children's emerging pre-literacy skills and knowledge. The correlation between the two variables shows low to moderate statistical significance. The implications of such findings are discussed. Additionally, the purpose of isolating relevant features of the children and their home environments is to identify specific indicators related to the literacy fostering process. Ultimately, the goal is to design adequate, timely, and systematic intervention strategies aimed at preventing difficulties related to written language learning in children that could be considered at risk.

Society, family and learning. The role of home literacy environments

This paper explores the relation between society, family, and learning. In particular, it addresses the features of home literacy environments in low income families and their impact on children's pre-literacy skills and knowledge. Sixty-two four/five-year-old children and their mothers were randomly selected for this study. The mothers were interviewed using an adaptation of a family literacy environment survey (Whitehurst, 1992). The children were assessed with specific tests to examine the scope of their 'early literacy'. The results revealed significant variability in the features and practices of home literacy environments as well as in the children's emerging pre-literacy skills and knowledge. The correlation between the two variables shows low to moderate statistical significance. The implications of such findings are discussed. Additionally, the purpose of isolating relevant features of the children and their home environments is to identify specific indicators related to the literacy fostering process. Ultimately, the goal is to design adequate, timely, and systematic intervention strategies aimed at preventing difficulties related to written language learning in children that could be considered at risk.

The impact of a computer based adult literacy program on literacy and numeracy : evidence from India

With over 700 million illiterate adults in the world, many governments have implemented adult literacy programs across the world, although typically with low rates of success partly because the quality of teaching is low. One solution may lie in the standardization of teaching provided by computer-aided instruction. We present the first rigorous evidence of the effectiveness of a computer-based adult literacy program. A randomized control trial study of TARA Akshar Plus, an Indian adult literacy program, was implemented in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. We find large, significant impacts of this computer-aided program on literacy and numeracy outcomes. We compare the improvement in learning to that of other traditional adult literacy programs and conclude that TARA Akshar Plus is effective in increasing literacy and numeracy for illiterate adult women.

Implementing the Physical Literacy Component of the 2015 Ontario Health and Physical Education Curriculum: Is the Stage Set?

Introduction: Current physical activity levels among children and youth are alarmingly low; a mere 7% of children and youth are meeting the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines (Colley et al., 2011), which means that the vast majority of this population is at risk of developing major health problems in adulthood (Janssen & Leblanc, 2010). These high inactivity rates may be related to suboptimal experiences in sport and physical activity stemming from a lack of competence and confidence (Lubans, Morgan, Cliff, Barnett, & Okely, 2010). Developing a foundation of physical literacy can encourage and maintain lifelong physical activity, yet this does not always occur naturally as a part of human growth (Hardman, 2011). An ideal setting to foster the growth and development of physical literacy is physical education class. Physical education class can offer all children and youth an equal opportunity to learn and practice the skills needed to be active for life (Hardman, 2011). Elementary school teachers are responsible for delivering the physical education curriculum, and it is important to understand their will and capacity as the implementing agents of physical literacy development curriculum (McLaughlin, 1987). Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the physical literacy component of the 2015 Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum policy through the eyes of key informants, and to explore the resources available for the implementation of this new policy. Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with seven key informants of the curriculum policy development, including two teachers. In tandem with the interviews, a resource inventory and curriculum review were conducted to assess the content and availability of physical literacy resources. All data were analyzed through the lens of Hogwood and Gunn’s (1984) 10 preconditions for policy implementation. Results: Participants discussed how implementation is affected by: accountability, external capacity, internal capacity, awareness and understanding of physical literacy, implementation expertise, and policy climate. Discussion: Participants voiced similar opinions on most issues, and the overall lack of attention given to physical education programs in schools will continue to be a major dilemma when trying to combat such high physical inactivity levels.

Workplace competencies : the need to improve literacy and employment readiness /

"July 1990"--T.p. verso.

Literacy and health in the United States : selected annotations.

Includes indexes.