The definition of health literacy was updated in August 2020 with the release of the U.S. government’s Healthy People 2030 initiative.
Personal health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
Organizational health literacy is the degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
Deeper dive
Nearly 9 out of 10 adults struggle with health literacy. Even people with high literacy skills may have low health literacy, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Older adults are unduly affected by poor health literacy, struggling to manage multiple chronic conditions and juggle multiple medications. Trouble understanding what doctors or other providers say, following written instructions, properly adhering to their medications, or filling out health insurance forms are all serious barriers to optimal outcomes — often leading to poorly made health decisions, increased hospitalizations and greater mortality.
Health literacy requires multiple cognitive processes that can challenge adults of any age. For seniors, the addition of deteriorating physical factors like hearing or vision loss, reduced comprehension and slower information processing only add confusion and misunderstanding.
According to the National Library of Medicine:
- 71% of adults older than age 60 have difficulty using print materials
- 80% have difficulty using documents such as forms or charts.
- 68% have difficulty interpreting numbers and performing calculations.
People with low health literacy skills are more likely to:
- Have poor health outcomes, including hospital stays and emergency room visits.
- Make medication errors.
- Have trouble managing chronic diseases.
- Skip preventive services, like flu shots.
People with higher health literacy skills are more likely to make informed health decisions. That means they’re more likely to be healthy — and even to live longer.
The National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy encourages health providers to use strategies such as picture or video-based information, plain talk, teach back, simplified consent forms, and to undergo health literacy training. It recommends that older adults have a family member or close friend accompany them to appointments and be present when interacting with providers.