February Summary

I chose this article for the journal club because I feel that health literacy issues are important to understand but are often overlooked. If our target population is unable to understand our messages, how effective can we be?

Question 1
This was a tricky one and I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer to it. There seemed to be a 50/50 split between agreeing and disagreeing and several people indicated that they were on the fence. On the pro side, Molly mentioned that adults without health literacy are less likely to seek preventative care and more likely to be hospitalized longer. Others stated that a person can be well educated and still health illiterate. Jordan mentions that a person is health literate when they understand the facts and the consequences of their eating choices. On the con side, many people said that health literacy is probably a big factor but maybe not THE factor in predicting
health. Taylor believes that all of the factors listed in the original question work together and should not be separated.

Question 2
I remember using SMOG on a handout I created as an undergrad for an assignment but I had no idea that so many readability tools existed. Many of you responded that you were also unaware of all these tools but would be willing to use them in the future. In addition to those mentioned in the article, Stephanie brought up the fact that you can check reading level with Microsoft Word. Reasons given for why RDs may not be using reading assessment tools included issues with time, money, and not knowing that they exist. Nate mentioned that these tools could be promoted at conferences to get the word out.

Here is a website that offers free readability assessment: http://www.readabilityformulas.com. It has a calculator as well as instructions for how to assess by hand. SMOG, Flesch-Kincaid, and Coleman-Liau all rated this post as 11th grade.

Question 3
The authors of this article suggested RDs use readability tools, attended conferences and trainings, and advocate for health literacy improvement efforts. Everyone this month came up with good ideas for how RDs could go about this. Ideas included offering appropriate resources to clients, being active in the community, encouraging questions, working with school districts to increase health classes, using pre- and post-tests, creating videos and podcasts, and implementing systems in grocery stores that help shoppers to make healthier choices.

Thanks for a great discussion everyone!