Influence of Poor Health Literacy on Public Health Leaders

1. Dr. Obumneke Amadi
Influence of PoorHealth Literacy on Public Health Leaders
Ways Low Health Literacy Might Influence the Actions of Public Health Leaders
It is a clear and simple understanding that health professionals owns the responsibility to
communicate health literacy to individuals or the general population. When individuals receive
correct, applicable information concerning a health issue, with health literacy they are in a better
position to take action to protect and improve their health behaviors. However, without
sufficient communication of information, individuals cannot be expected to embrace the healthy
behaviors or changed behaviors, including the recommendations that accompanies it. Public
health leaders may experience some setbacks in disseminating health messages to their target
group or to the general population which may also hinder their ability to fully take on an action
towards a health problem that requires to be addressed in the community as a result of low
literacy e.g. some ways health literacy may influence the actions of public health leaders include:
(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010)
1. Individuals with low literacy cannot be expected to adopt the health behaviors or engage
in decision making and change activities because they do not have clear understanding of
information communicated to them, thereby limiting the desired outcome of the program
goal by the public health leaders. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010)
2. It may decrease participation in population health programs e.g. in screening and
immunization programs which may be as a result of decreased capacity to act
independently based on knowledge (Nutbeam, 2000, p.266)
Ways Media Information May Impact the Development of my Public Health Campaign
Media health message such as Radio, reaches out to listeners with Language and cultural
barriers in the diverse population to efficiently access health care and navigate the health service
system in their own dialect. In addition, talk shows, feature news reports, educational messages,
and mini radio drama are all designed and used in different communities locally and
internationally to create health behavior changes, community action, and health policy changes
(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Media information may Impact the
development of my public health campaign by the following examples (1) Studies have shown

2. that picture-based directions from the internet or other medial visual tools used in social
marketing promote better understanding of how to take medication and decrease medication
errors among patients and (2) According to the research conducted by Zoellner, J., et al.(2011)
to evaluate an entertainment-based patient decision aid for early stage breast cancer surgery in
low health literacy patients, the result established that utilizing an entertainment education
strategy designed to make information more accessible and understandable to lower literate
women appears to assist them in making informed breast cancer surgery decisions(Zoellner, J., et
al.,2011)
In summary, understanding health literacy in individuals will support public health
leaders to take actions to accomplish desired goals towards health problems to be addressed in
the population, in addition, using mass media entertaining learning may be an appropriate
strategy for informing low literacy individuals of health matters in the environment and also
engage them in change behavior.
Reference
DON NUTBEAM (2000). Health literacy as a public health goal: a challenge for contemporary
health education and communication strategies into the 21st century. Retrieved from
http://www.allianzgesundheitskompetenz.ch/logicio/client/allianz/file/Literatur/Health_Pr
omot._Int.2000Nutbeam25967.pdf
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). Health literacy. Baltimore, MD: Author.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2010). Limited Health Literacy as a Public
Health Problem. Retrieved from
http://www.health.gov/communication/hlactionplan/pdf/Health_Literacy_Action_Plan.pd
Zoellner, J., et al. (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