Frequently Asked Questions About Health Literacy

What is health literacy?
Is health literacy just about reading?
What are some examples?
Why is health literacy important?
If health literacy is so important, why haven’t I heard of it before?
What is low health literacy?
Am I at high risk for low health literacy?
Can I improve my health literacy?

What is health literacy?
Health Literacy is the ability to understand basic health and medical information so that you can make informed choices about your health care.

Is health literacy just about reading?
Health literacy is not just about reading. Many people who have difficulty reading have high health literacy. The key is our ability to find information (be it from talking to a health care provider, online, taking a class or reading a pamphlet) and then being able to analyze or make sense of it and act on it. Health literacy requires many skills, but these specific skills can vary from person to person and situation to situation.

What are examples of situations that require health literacy?
Good health literacy helps in almost every health care situation, from choosing a cold medicine at the pharmacy to being able to read at-home post-surgery instructions to discussing your symptoms with your doctor or care provider.

Why is health literacy important?
Health literacy is important because the more you can understand about your health and health care, the healthier you can be. Improving your health literacy is one of the cheapest, easiest, and most effective ways of improving your health.

In fact, health literacy is more likely to predict a person’s health correctly than age, income, employment, education level, and race (Journal of the American Medical Association).

Many studies have shown that those with low health literacy are less likely to use screening and prevention services,i take medications as directed,ii find their way through the health care system, and are much more likely to end up in the hospital.

If health literacy is so important, why haven’t I heard of it before?
While it has always been helpful for people to understand health and medical information, we’ve only recently begun to understand how truly important it is.  In fact, we need to understand more now.

Astonishing advances in medicine combined with shorter hospital stays and office visits have left a great deal of care and decision-making in the hands of  patients.

Today, more than 130 million Americans manage a chronic disease, such as diabetes and heart disease.  We also live longer and survive more life-threatening illnesses.  We manage more long-term diseases and have more treatment options for even minor ailments.  Hospital stays are shorter.  This means that health literacy plays a much greater role in our wellness than it used to.

What is low health literacy?
Low health literacy is when a person has trouble understanding health and medical information, or even when or how to seek medical attention. Not knowing how to take medication correctly, being unable to follow home care instructions after a surgery, or not understanding a diagnosis are examples of low health literacy.

Am I at risk for low health literacy?
More than 90 million Americans struggle with low health literacy, and almost everyone is at risk at some point. It can be especially difficult to ask the right questions about medical care when you have just heard a diagnosis that will deeply affect your life. Not feeling well, feeling anxious, being tired or distracted can all contribute to a decrease in our health literacy.

Low health literacy cuts across every social, economic, ethnic, racial and language boundary.

Also, some of us are more likely to have lower health literacy than others, such as the elderly (age 65 and over), or those with a low income or low education level.

Can I improve my health literacy?
Yes, you can! It is very easy to acquire the basic skills you need to become better at finding, understanding and acting on health and medical information. This web site is a good place start.