You may notice that your community members have a hard time understanding health concepts, using tools or making positive health choices for themselves and the people they care for. The underlying cause of this is often inadequate health literacy. Say Ah!’s Health Literacy Education and Training will help you reach your community members in a way that is simple, clear and effective. Email us to schedule a training today!
Say Ah! provides evidence-based education and skills training in health literacy and health literacy best practices, such as Plain Language, Universal Design and Teach-Back. Participants will deepen their skills in health communication and learn how to apply them in day-to-day, as well as complex, situations.
Say Ah!’s team of skilled trainers has a combined 70+ years of experience in health literacy, cross-cultural communication, pedagogy and professional development training. Say Ah!’s dynamic content modules are designed to accommodate diverse styles of learning and levels of base knowledge and skills.
Say Ah! has trained more than 3,000 frontline community-facing professionals across New York State, including physicians, nurses, social workers, case managers, librarians, community health workers, among many others. In addition, Say Ah!’s national programs have enhanced the health literacy of professionals representing major health and hospital systems, academic institutions and government entities from every state.
Sample Training Modules
- Health Literacy Overview and Impact: This introduction defines health literacy as it relates to both the health care system and its users, examines ways health literacy impacts health outcomes for individuals and communities and provides a framework for re-conceptualizing how we think of health communication. (1 hour)
- Plain Language Principles and Practice: This interactive learning session focuses on key Plain Language principles that can be applied across all communication platforms to enhance health communication. Participants will learn what plain language is and isn’t, increase their knowledge and understanding of how to communicate effectively with lay people, and learn how to reduce communication barriers by improving word choice, sentence construction, and clear messaging. (2 hours)
- Teach-Back Workshop: Participants will learn how to improve their own communication skills and confirm understanding with their audience using theTeach Back Method. The session includes group training, small group work and report-outs. (1 hour)
- Narrative Health Competency: Participants will explore three primary narratives that frame the way we understand our health: Chaos, Quest, and Restitution (Arthur Frank, The Wounded Storyteller). These narratives inform and impact health literacy, subsequently influencing the way patients, clients and community members manage their health and health communication. This workshop provides an overview of Narrative Health (including the framework above), discusses how narrative impacts health literacy, and uses an interactive exercise to enhance the ability of participants to recognize and respond with compassion to themes in patient, client and community-facing conversations. (1.5 hours)
- Health Literacy Equity: Health literacy interacts with multiple social determinants of health to impact health outcomes. This workshop provides an overview of the ways systemic and individual discriminatory practices, including but not limited to racism, sexism and xenophobia, impact the health literacy demands placed on marginalized populations. Participants will learn strategies to lower these harmful demands and help community members enhance their ability to access, understand and use health information and services. (2 hours)
- Evaluating Materials and Messaging Workshop: Using real-world examples of health promotion materials, participants will evaluate consumer-facing materials and messaging through a health literacy lens and learn how to improve them. (1 hour)