Hello Everyone,

Thanks for this discussion. It is very cool to see this diverse group of
people weighing in to advance the field of health literacy in this way.
(Look at the signature lines of those involved for the variety of fields
and backgrounds and perspectives you all bring!) Please excuse me for
getting a bit "rah-rah!", but I do think this is an exciting time for
health literacy, and we are all part of it. 

As Archie pointed out, we do keep coming back to this: that the burden
of improving health literacy does not lie only on the shoulders of the
patients, but also on the shoulders of all who deliver health care and
health information, AND on the shoulders of the systems that drive this
delivery. We also keep coming back to the fact that it is not only those
with literacy challenges who have trouble staying healthy.

For years on this list and elsewhere, this double-sided concept of
health literacy has been evolving, and I think we should adopt it as a
given. 

  * Can we now talk about health care providers as also "needing to
improve their health literacy"? Yes! 

  * Should we now let go of the concept of testing patients to see who
is "at risk", and instead realize that in the current system we are ALL
"at risk", and so aim to provide clear, simple and appropriate
communication and non-intimidating access for everyone? Yes!

  * Should we develop rigorous measures of the health literacy of health
providers and systems so we can create and evaluate effective
interventions for them as well as for patients? Yes!

When the Institute of Medicine released their report in 2004, they
mobilized the medical community by publicizing the fact that 90 million
Americans "have difficulty understanding and acting on health
information". This was tremendously useful in creating widespread
awareness and work toward more understandable health information. But it
was based on a narrower definition of health literacy, which focused on
(as Rima said) "the capacities of individuals."

Thanks, Linda, for announcing the Calgary Charter, because I think this
could become the new definition and set of core principles, which we can
use to mobilize support for the new broader concept of health literacy.
I know that those who collaborated to develop this charter worked hard
to acknowledge the concepts that we have all been discussing in this
recent conversation on this list. If we agree, perhaps we can talk about
how to make this understanding more widespread? (And if we don't agree,
that would also be an interesting discussion!)

I would love to hear what you all think about this. And I am sorry for
going on so long!

All the best,
Julie



Julie McKinney
Health Literacy List Moderator
World Education
jmckinney at worlded.org

>>> "Linda Shohet" <lshohet at dawsoncollege.qc.ca> 11/05/09 4:19 PM >>>

Hello all

In the context of the stimulating discussion over the last few days
regarding 
labeling of “at-risk” patients, I would like to share the most recent
version 
of The Calgary Charter on Health Literacy: Rationale and Core Principles
for 
the Development of Health Literacy Curricula, posted at 
http://www.centreforliteracy.qc.ca/Healthlitinst/Calgary_Charter_Oct_09.pdf.

This document was drafted and revised over the past year by six
individuals* 
who attended the October 2008 Institute on Health Literacy Curricula in 
Calgary, co-hosted by The Centre for Literacy of Quebec.  The Charter 
proposes a definition and understanding of health literacy and a set of
core 
principles to support the development of curricula and evaluation tools
that 
improve the health literacy for diverse audiences and purposes.  It 
specifically avoids labeling any groups and assumes that health literacy

touches individuals and health systems, and while expressed differently
in 
different contexts, is always based on the same underlying skills and 
abilities.  There is considerable consistency between these principles
and 
the ones in a proposed US Health Literacy Natiopresented by Cynthia Baur last week at the Georgia Health Literacy
Symposium. 

We have shared earlier drafts with this list and with participants at 
selected conferences and events, and have incorporated the feedback we 
received.  We will give anyone interested the chance to sign on to the 
Charter in the coming days.  In the meantime, we welcome your thoughts
about 
if or how you might use these principles in your own curriculum or
evaluation 
work.  

* Charter authors, alphabetically
•	Clifford Coleman, M.D.    colemanc at ohsu.edu
Oregon Health & Science University

•	Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi, M.Ed.sabrina_kurtz-rossi at comcast.net
Kurtz-Rossi & Associates

•	Julie McKinney, M.S.      julie_mcKinney at worlded.org
World Education, Inc.

•	Andrew Pleasant, Ph.D.     pleasant at AESOP.Rutgers.edu
Canyon Ranch Institute & Rutgers University

•	Irving Rootman, Ph.D.      irootman at telus.net
University of Victoria, British Columbia

•	Linda Shohet, Ph.D.       ed at centreforliteracy.qc.ca
The Centre for Literacy of Quebec



Linda Shohet


--
Linda Shohet, PhD
Executive Director
The Centre for Literacy of Quebec
2100 Marlowe Avenue, Suite 236
Montreal, Quebec
Canada, H4A 3L5
Tel.:(514) 798-5601, ext. 24
Fax: (514) 798-5602
E-mail: ed at centreforliteracy.qc.ca
Web site: www.centreforliteracy.qc.ca

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