What is health literacy?
According to HRSA, the U.S. Gov’t Health Resources & Services Administration “Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions. Low health literacy is more prevalent among older adults.”
What is digital health literacy?
Digital Health Literacy is the degree that patients can access, understand, and utilize digital health interventions and solutions as part of an individual’s overall healthcare.
What is E-health literacy?
E-health literacy is the degree that patients can access, understand, and utilize digital health interventions and solutions as part of an individual’s overall healthcare.
Why is healthcare literacy important?
Healthcare literacy is important so individuals can play an active role in their own health, the same way financial literacy helps individuals manage their finances and financial health.
What causes poor health literacy?
Many things cause poor health literacy. Until the past 2 decades, healthcare information was not easy to access outside of medical school and other educational institution or a clinic and hospital visit. The people who worked inside of the healthcare system were the experts, and to get information a patient had to go to these experts. This is normal operating procedure for anyone who was born before 1985.
Fast forward to 2021, and the amount of accessible healthcare information can be overwhelming for individuals who don’t work in healthcare. It can also be difficult to separate fact from fiction using Dr. Google. Those who don’t have easy access to the internet are still reliant on learning about healthcare from their doctors, clinicians, and nurses.
Another contributing factor to poor health literacy is fear. Being sick can be scary for anyone. Some patients aren’t open to learning or new ways of doing things when they are scared, making a new disease, condition, or disorder more difficult to teach and treat.