Becoming Effective Health Communicators By Wendi Williams, Editor

As America strives to become a healthier nation, it only makes sense that the buzz in Extension and among health educators includes eliminating health disparities and improving health literacy. Health literacy is the process of communicating health information and services for diverse audiences so that individuals and families can make the best-informed decisions regarding their health or the health of loved ones (DHHS, 2007). In the past, this responsibility has rested upon the shoulders of health care professionals, educators, and family service providers everywhere, but every consumer of health products and services is responsible as well. After all, most of us know our bodies better than anyone else and we are the ones that must choose whether or not to use health services or to put health information into practice.

The primary questions that every communicator should ask when creating an educational product or service are:

• Who is the audience?
• How do I reach that audience?
• What information do I need to convey?

These same questions apply to the dissemination of health information. Authors and researchers alike ought to know the best way to reach a target population. This involves putting complicated medical information into a format and language that a particular audience can easily understand. Then we must go one step further. We must create materials that allow the audience to engage in the learning process in order to maintain or to improve overall health and lifestyles. In other words, as Extension colleagues recently pointed out, we must ask ourselves if we achieved our desired outcome (improved health literacy), changed negative behavior, and defined what public value our programs and services yield.

In today's health arena, it is not enough for physicians to ask patients whether or not they understand health information or instructions. The physician should ask the patient to repeat the instructions back to them to make sure the instructions or the information are indeed clear (Wynia, 2006). Then it may become necessary for the physician to follow-up with that patient to ensure that progress is being made. For Extension specialists and communicators, this process may involve conducting usability testing on products and services to make sure communication objectives are achieved.

A target audience could be just as diverse or complicated as the information you are trying to convey. Individuals with marginal or no literacy skills at all can still be intelligent human beings. Some people learn visually while others retain knowledge by writing things down. And how does culture come into play? Are we creating images or using language that is culturally appealing to a certain racial or ethnic group? Do we need to incorporate more graphics or icons, chunk information in bullets or short paragraphs, or add plenty of white space to make sure the product is easy to comprehend (DHHS, 2003)? These are all important factors to consider when producing information or services that are not only easy to read, but also easy to use.

The act of improving health literacy is being taken much more seriously than in the past. Medical certification boards and learning institutions are teaching up and coming medical professionals how to improve their health literacy skills. Many organizations are adhering to the recommendations outlined in the national objectives Healthy People 2010 by creating health systems that provide equitable access for all populations, developing audience-appropriate materials, and training personnel to become better communicators through the use of current technological resources (Carmona, 2003).

Becoming an effective communicator of health information is more than just converting scientific or medical jargon into simple terms. It requires researching your audience so that you can be more sensitive as to how segments of people interpret and retain knowledge. It requires developing products and services that are visually and culturally appealing. It also involves testing the product or service to make sure its effective. Or it means being creative in order to reach an audience that may upon first glance appear to be unreachable. Extension and other family service providers can improve their current health literacy practices also by embracing the challenge to become effective health communicators, even if it means redesigning or creating new products or services that not only help to eliminate health disparities, but help diverse audiences to make wise health decisions.

References

Carmona, Richard. (September 19, 2003). Health literacy: Key to improving American's health. United States Department of Health & Human Services. Pfizer Sixth National Health Literacy Conference. Retrieved September 4, 2007.

North Carolina Institute of Medicine. (August 2007). Just what did the doctor order?: Addressing low health literacy in North Carolina. Health Policy. Retrieved September 4, 2007.

The Johns Hopkins University. (June 2003). A field guide to designing a health communication strategy. Center for Communications Programs. Publications. Retrieved September 4, 2007.

United States Department of Health & Human Services. (January 2007). Plain language: A promising strategy for clearly communicating health information and improving health literacy. Retrieved September 4, 2007.

Wynia, Matthew K. (October 2, 2006). What can doctors do about health literacy? Medscape General Medicine. Retrieved September 4, 2007.

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