Return-Path: <root> Received: (from root@localhost) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) id f7VBv9P11504 for health-archive@nifl.gov; Fri, 31 Aug 2001 07:57:09 -0400 (EDT) Resent-Message-Id: <200108311157.f7VBv9P11504@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from imo-m09.mx.aol.com (imo-m09.mx.aol.com [64.12.136.164]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with ESMTP id f7THDUf16341 for <nifl-health@nifl.gov>; Wed, 29 Aug 2001 13:13:30 -0400 (EDT) Received: from Plnenglish@aol.com by imo-m09.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v31_r1.4.) id p.11.19ce55f0 (4241) for <nifl-health@nifl.gov>; Wed, 29 Aug 2001 13:13:21 -0400 (EDT) From: Plnenglish@aol.com Message-ID: <11.19ce55f0.28be7cb0@aol.com> Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 13:13:20 EDT Subject: Re: Testing patients' literacy skills To: nifl-health@nifl.gov Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="part1_11.19ce55f0.28be7cb0_boundary" X-Mailer: AOL 6.0 for Windows US sub 10536 Resent-From: root@literacy.nifl.gov Resent-Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 07:57:09 -0400 Resent-To: health-archive@nifl.gov Status: O Content-Length: 4505 Lines: 123 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi, folks, > " (Judy Singh)" wrote: > > > In your response I was interested in your reference to Short-TOFHLA (Test > Of Functional Health Literacy in Adults). How would I be able to get a > I came into full time work in health literacy after working many years in adult literacy. I remember how frightened our potential students would be when we had to do a quick literacy assessment to decide where to place them. One woman told me, "When I had to take the test, I was sweating from every pore in my body." Someone else told me he almost threw up when he had to take the placement test. If an adult has limited literacy skills, the last thing they will want to do is to read in front of someone. Let me remind everyone that testing patients' literacy skills in a medical setting may have very negative effects. It is likely to intimidate and alientate emerging readers while offending more experienced readers. Patients may avoid your facility if they hear that a literacy test is required. There is also the question of whether you will get a valid result anyway since most of us have lower literacy skills when under the stress of being in a medical setting. There are so many reasons NOT to test patients' literacy skills that I have yet to be convinced that the benefits are worth the cost. Just my 2 cents worth. Audrey Riffenburgh, MA President, Riffenburgh and Associates Specialists in Health Literacy since 1994 1606 Central SE Suite 201 Albuquerque, NM 87106 USA Phone: 505-242-5808 Fax: 505-246-9164 E-mail: plnenglish@aol.com "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." -- Groucho Marx
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