2019-2020 was an impactful program year for the UAMS Center for Health Literacy (CHL), as well as a year of transition. Our founder and executive director, Kristie Hadden, Ph.D., assumed other roles at our academic medical center, and CHL’s previous program director, Alison Caballero, MPH, CHES, assumed leadership of the Center.
Blog
Tips to Find Accurate Health Information Online
People need accurate, easy to understand health information to make appropriate health decisions for themselves and their families.
Tips for Using Visuals to Make Your Public-Facing COVID-19 Materials Useful
Visual aids, such as illustrations and photos, are an important component of many successful health materials.
Actually, Everyone Cannot Just Use their Smartphone
With the development and use of digital health tools on the rise, we have multiple opportunities to engage with health-related technology on a daily basis. You can find an app to track anything: your sleep, weight, eating, and more.
You Keep Saying That Word! (Health Care Provider)
In this new series, “You Keep Saying That Word!,” we are going to talk about words that we see or hear often, but that CHL writers don’t normally use in health communication. Consider this our list of replaceables. These are words that we don’t consider easy for everyone to understand. But rest assured, we will share some alternatives to those words, too.
Citing Your Sources Makes You Credible to Your Readers… Or Does It?
When writing health information for patients and the public, one way to ensure clinical accuracy is to draw on information from reputable sources. Writers at UAMS CHL do this a lot. In the past, part of our motivation for doing so was to lend credibility to the piece; that is, we believed that including citations and references would be an extra motivator for people to act.
Risk Communication: Do Your Numbers Help or Confuse?
Have you ever read a newspaper headline like this: “Eating better reduces risk of heart disease by 20%, science says”? What does this mean, exactly?
Four Reasons Why We Are #Crushing on Plain Language
It is not news that we have a little crush on plain language. Plain language can lead to better health, especially for those that struggle with health information.
Field Testing: Tricks of the Trade
As we laid out in a recent post, it is important to test health-related materials with your target audience. Doing so is an ideal way to find out if your materials are truly readable, understandable, and actionable.
Helping Your Patients Address the Right Questions
Any time we hear an ad for a new medicine or medical treatment, we are encouraged to ask our doctor if the treatment is “right” for us. But what does “right” actually mean? As providers, we can do a lot to help patients understand.