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Effective Health Communication and Health Literacy

NNLM Training Office

Publisher
Zenodo
DOI
10.5281/zenodo.17547091
Repository
zenodo.org
Language
en

Abstract

How are health communication and health literacy connected? How can you be more effective in providing health information to consumers, patients, clients, library patrons and your community? These materials from a Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) webinar introduces the concepts of health literacy and health communication, outlines components of clear health communication, and identifies online resources from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), government agencies and other recognized resources for health literacy and health communication. This resource is supported by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH) under cooperative agreement number UG4LM013732 with the University of Utah’s Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].

Full text

Effective Health Communication CLEAR Use medical jargon Complex messages Provide nice-to-know information Assume understanding Infer understanding repeat the same thing (louder) Inadvertently Shame Use clear communication Use plain language Simple messages Need to know information (3 - 5 items) Anticipate misunderstanding Confirm understanding Clarify Objective, judgement free LESS CLEAR When working with library patrons, It is important to keep the following guidelines for effective health communication in mind.