October is Health Literacy Month—a time for health care professionals to promote practices and policies that enable patients to understand and use health information to improve their health.
Blog
Red Flags of Low Health Literacy and Strategies that Help
Have you ever wondered if you communicated your main points well to your patient, client, or others you serve? Or thought, that despite your best efforts, they didn’t understand what you were trying to say? It’s possible that some people don’t get your messages because they struggle with low health literacy.
Training Translators to Use Plain Language
Let’s say you’ve used plain language best practices to create high-quality health education material that is easy to read, understand, and use. Now you want to share this material with Spanish speakers, so you have it translated. How do you know the translated material uses plain language like the source material?
We are going on a communication journey (Ditch the paper map and use GPS!)
By: Alison Caballero, MPH, CHES, Associate Professor, Director, Center for Health Literacy, in anticipation of retirement on June 30, 2023
Don’t Let Health Math be Fuzzy Math
Did you know it’s Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month? This isn’t one we knew about until recently, but according to the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics, “April marks a time to increase the understanding and appreciation of mathematics and statistics.”
Read More
Don’t Forget to Use Your Plain Language Best Practices on Surveys
We have been writing and editing a lot of surveys lately, so we wanted to share some tips on how make your data collection tools easy for people to understand.
Read More
Resources to Avoid and Define Jargon
As plain language communicators, one of our main goals is to help the learner understand the content, so we must address medical jargon and other uncommon terms.
Read More
Make Resolutions with Meaning in 2023
Happy 2023! From all of us at the Center for Health Literacy, we wish you a year filled with health, happiness, and success. By now you may already have a list of new year’s resolutions. If you do, or even if you don’t, we have a few for you to consider. Our resolutions focus on what we know best: clearly communicating health information so it is easy to read, understand, and use.
Organizational Health Literacy: Meeting the Healthy People 2030 Objectives
What is organizational health literacy?
Organizational health literacy involves the strategies health care organizations implement to make it easier for patients to:
- Understand health information
- Navigate the health care system
- Engage in health care processes and manage their health
Plain Language Tips We Hope You’ll be T.H.A.N.K.F.U.L. For
Pumpkin spice is in the air, and social media feeds are rich with refreshing stories of gratitude. “Plain language communication” is a broad term, and the team here at CHL is thankful for the long list of strategies we can use to achieve this.
Read More