Return-Path: <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id i58NoF921837; Tue, 8 Jun 2004 19:50:15 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 19:50:15 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <SEA2-F6eduV9t6Au4hi00069d68@hotmail.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Carol Perryman" <cp1757@hotmail.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:4443] Re: Which Test? X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Status: O Content-Length: 3341 Lines: 59 >David Rosen wrote: >I also have some concerns about administering literacy assessments in >medical contexts. If >someone comes in for medical help, isn't it the >institution's or agency's responsibility to provide >medical help, not to >assess their literacy. For example, at least one hospital in Boston does >not >bring up literacy, per se. Instead, patients with diseases or medical >conditions are told "You have a >disease that you need to learn about. >What ways would you prefer to learn about it? Would you >like to talk with >someone? Read about it? Watch a video?" Patients who do not choose to read > >may or may not have difficulty reading, but that isn't the problem. >Especially a time of crisis is not >the time to confront problems of >literacy. The problem is how to help patients learn what they >need to in >ways which work best for them. My own curiosity about consumer/patient health education was piqued not only by being a consumer/medical librarian, but by my participation and observation in an online (smoking cessation) forum. Questions about the adverse effects of medication, about alternative therapies, chest pains, pregnancy, birth control, depression... I could go on and on - were asked of peers within this community. When I interviewed participants for my research, often respondents mentioned that though they trusted their providers, they did not ask that provider for information. Instead, they asked their peers. In fact, even though authoratative information is provided on the site itself, questions were still addressed to peers. Peers speak their own language (regardless of the veracity of content), and are available at time of need, long after the medical visit. Though the questions often are to do with issues probably addressed at the time of the visit, either comprehension and/or retention are not achieved, or the person simply did not think of a concern that later presented itself. Brochures can be duplicated & dispersed in a cost-efficient manner (relative to one-time or repeated workshops), but are neither comprehensive or one-size-fits-all with regard to literacy... they can never be tailored to individual needs. Even videos may address concepts in ways that are incomprehensible due to cultural or literacy issues. We could ask the patient/consumer: what do you prefer? - but the person may answer, as do most, in the most expeditious manner. People I interviewed expressed their awareness of the sheer 'business' of healthcare staff, and one person explained that he could see his fellow patients were more 'needy'; he therefore did not ask, with the result that he felt a total loss of control within this alien environment. Please pardon my ramble. these issues are ones that concern me - and they may stray beyond the bounds of medical literacy, into the realm of patient/consumer education/empowerment. I guess I'd add, to my earlier post, another question: What are the factors involved in comprehension, which should be considered in evaluation or creation of focused health information? Carol Perryman, MS LIS _________________________________________________________________ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/
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