The Importance of Health Literacy - Special Academic Support

Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?

We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.

You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Click Here To Order Now!

The Importance of Health Literacy

Table of Contents

Abstract
Introduction
Literature Review
Health Literacy and Literacy
Conclusion
References

Abstract

This paper discusses importance of health literacy. It also compares health literacy to literacy. It is apparent that everybody needs to acquire health literacy to enhance his or her life. Health literacy helps individuals understand health terminologies and situations. The paper also gives an example of a situation that demonstrates the difference between health literacy and literacy.

Introduction

Literacy is the ability to read, write, understand readings and speeches and execute some computational assignments. On the other hand, health literacy entails the skills individuals require to analyze, evaluate, comprehend and execute activities that enhance their lives. This research paper discusses various works that illustrate the importance of health literacy and how it differs from literacy.

Literature Review

According to Parker and Thorson (2009, p. 23), health literacy is a wide range of skills and competencies that people develop to seek out, comprehend, evaluate and use health information and concepts to make choices, reduce risks and increase quality of life. They argue that approximately 100, 000 people die every day due to errors in medication (Parker & Thorson, 2009). They further argue that people with low health literacy smoke more, poorly adhere to medical regimes, do not understand their own health, and have no knowledge about medical care (Parker & Thorson, 2009). Consequently, they experience increased hospitalization.

Zoellner et al. associate health literacy with healthy eating and a reduction in the consumption of sugary beverages. Their study reveals that 1 point increase in health literacy leads to a 1.21 increase in healthy eating. They further argue that 1 point health literacy leads to the consumption of 34 fewer kilocalories in one day (Zoellner et al., 2011). Therefore, an increase in health literacy causes an almost proportionate change in eating habits and an inverse change in the consumption of sugary beverages. They define health literacy as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate decisions (Zoellner et al., 2011, 1012).

Jibala-Weiss et al. (2011) argue that health literacy helps deal with breast cancer. They believe that literate women make surgery decisions better than others. They propose entertainment education as a strategy for educating women with breast cancer.

According to Health People 2020 (2011), education programs help reduce injury, violence, mental problems, unplanned pregnancy, mouth problems, the use of tobacco and substance abuse. The writer also argues that the programs improve nutrition, the prevention of obesity and physical activity (Healthy People 2020, 2011). They propose the use of such programs in social institutions such as schools, churches, mosques and health clinics in improving health literacy.

Health Literacy (personal communication, n.d.) defines health literacy as the ability to obtain and process medical information. On the other hand, literacy is the ability to read, write and understand English and execute computational skills (Health Literacy, personal communication, n.d.). The speaker argues that health literacy entails word recognition, comprehension and the ability to do some basic computations (Health Literacy, personal communication, n.d.). She argues that health literacy is not only patient-related but also systemic. According to her, pharmacists should communicate effectively to their patients to promote health literacy (Health Literacy, n.d.). She also argues that they should understand their patients cultures before determining the best methods for handling them.

Health Literacy and Literacy

As discussed above, literacy and health literacy are slightly different. Literacy is the general ability to read and write while health literacy entails skills that help individuals identify and understand medical terminologies and personal health status (Nielsen-Bohlman, Panzer & Kindig, 2004). For example, an individual who dropped out of school in primary school may be able to read and write but cannot understand what vasectomy means.

One major problem that may result from the lack of health literacy is taking wrong doses (Nielsen-Bohlman et al., 2004). Patients who cannot interpret the calculations on dose labels may end up taking overdoses or under-doses, which may lead to serious medical problems or even death. Illiterate and semi-literate individuals are the most likely to encounter such problems. They encounter problems in mastering technical medical terms, conditions and computations. People in developing countries may also encounter such difficulties.

Conclusion

Health literacy and literacy have some significant differences. Health literacy goes beyond mere writing and reading. It includes the ability to interpret and understand medical terminologies and situations. Therefore, it helps avoid serious medical problems.

References

Health Literacy [personal communication] (n.d.).

Healthy People 2020. (2011). Web.

Jibaja-Weiss, M., Volk, R., Granchi, T., Neff, N., Robinson, E., Spann, S.,&Beck, J. (2011). Entertainment education for breast cancer surgery decisions: A randomized trial among patients with low health literacy. Patient Education and Counseling, 84(1), 41-48. Web.

Nielsen-Bohlman, L., Panzer, A., & Kindig, D. (2004). Health literacy. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.

Parker, J. C., & Thorson, E. (Eds.). (2009). Health communication in the new media landscape. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.

Zoellner, J., You, W., Connell, C., Smith, R., Allen, K., Tucker, K.,&Estabrooks, B. (2011). Health literacy is associated with health eating index scores and sugar-sweetened beverage intake: Findings from the rural lower Mississippi delta. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111(7), 1012- 1020. Web.

Click Here To Order Now!