Health Literacy & hard to reach audiences

This week's reading on health literacy was very interesting and made clear the difference between health literacy and the broader view of literacy, the latter being the one I was more attuned with. However, this week lecture and readings has made me understand that health literacy goes beyond whether an individual can read and write in English. Rather it focuses on whether people can use these skills (reading & writing) to solve problems at proficient levels and function in society. Sheila highlighted that both the provider and patient have roles to ensure a higher level of health literacy. The provider needs to work on communicating with patients in terms that will be comprehended versus medical jargon that might fly over patients's heads. While, the patients need to make sure the provider recommendations and instructions are understood (if not ask questions until it is clear) because this will help with their self-care.

One of the things that shocked me the most came from the JAMA Report on Health literacy. They report that 60% of patients surveyed from two public hospitals could not understand a standard consent form. When I read this the first thing that came to my mind was, What does this say about the reliability of consent forms? Participants might say they know what they are signing up for but in reality they might just wan to have the researcher they do. It also brought to mind an instance with a participant from a study I helped with. The participant was asked to read the consent form and then sign it. However, the participant said that her reading glasses had been forgotten at home and if we could just provide her with an overview of the contents of the consent form. After the readings and lecture for this week it really makes me wonder whether that instance had something to do with the participants health literacy (as this study was related to health).

On a different note, I was browsing youtube and found a Family Guy episode that resonates with this weeks topic. It is funny but also exemplifies what can happen in situations when patients agree to things they might not fully understand or know the exact procedure to particular examinations.