A librarian’s role in media effects health literacy

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill R. Kavanaugh ◽  
Kristelle Lavallee ◽  
Rima Rudd
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Patient Education ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Complete Analysis ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Embedded Librarian

Purpose This paper aims to assess a pediatric media health effects’ toolkit from a health literacy perspective. A secondary aim is to highlight the collaborative role of an embedded librarian. Design/methodology/approach The authors assessed ten items from the toolkit in several formats (text, survey and video) using the following health literacy assessment tools: the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook, the Suitability Assessment of Materials, the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Printed Materials and the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Audio/Visual Materials. Findings Both the toolkit’s readability scores and understandability scores provided a deeper understanding of where improvements to the toolkit need to be made. The review process also highlighted issues with the assessment tools themselves that prevent them from providing a complete analysis of each materials’ readability and suitability. Research limitations/implications This initial assessment of the toolkit will serve as the backbone for additional formative research, revisions and pilot tests, which will be conducted for the toolkit to become a viable, available and usable tool for pediatricians and health-care providers. The insight gleaned from this study serves as an example, for other institutions across fields, of the importance of having professionals, such as librarians, become well-versed in health literacy and offer guidance and insight for the development of health-focused patient materials. Originality/value This project provides further insight into the evolving role of the embedded librarian. As gatekeepers of information with the responsibility of vetting sources, informing the creation of content, and developing resources, the integration of health literacy knowledge is imperative for librarians to further the work of their institutions and aid in the progression of their field.

Commentary on “Diabetes and people with learning disabilities: issues for policy, practice and education”

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brianne Redquest ◽  
Yona Lunsky
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Diabetes Care ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Family Carers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Policy Practice

Purpose There has been an increase in research exploring the area of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and diabetes. Despite being described as instrumental to diabetes care for people with IDD, the role and experiences of family carers, such as parents and siblings, are often neglected in this research. However, it is clear that family carers do not feel that they have sufficient knowledge about diabetes. The purpose of this commentary is to extend the content from “Diabetes and people with learning disabilities: Issues for policy, practice, and education (Maine et al., 2020)” and discuss how family carers can feel better supported when caring for someone with IDD and diabetes. Design/methodology/approach This commentary discusses specific efforts such as STOP diabetes, DESMOND-ID and OK-diabetes for people with IDD including family carers. Encouragement is given for health care providers to recommend such programmes to people with IDD and their family carers. It is also suggested that health care providers involve family carers in diabetes care planning and implementation for people with IDD. Findings It is hoped that if changes are made to current diabetes practices and more research with family carers is conducted, diabetes prevention and management for people with IDD will be more successful and family carers can feel more confident in providing support to their loved ones. Originality/value Research exploring the role of family carers in diabetes care for people with IDD and diabetes is very limited. This commentary makes recommendations to help family carers feel better supported in their role. It also provides areas for future research.

Medication Errors

2016 ◽  
pp. 111-120
Author(s):  
Titilola T. Obilade
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Medication Errors ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Health Literacy Level ◽  
Literacy Level ◽  
Prevention Of Medication Errors

Depending on the statistics examined, medication errors are responsible for 44000 to 400000 deaths annually. This chapter examined the role of societal attributes in medication errors. Although several studies have been conducted on medication errors there is still no uniformity in the definitions which makes evaluation of medication errors difficult. Despite the non-uniformity of definitions, all the research articles reviewed agreed that enhanced oral and written communications between health care providers and patients or parents of patients was a step towards the prevention of medication errors. The health literacy level of both health care providers and consumers also contribute to medication errors.

Plain Language Pediatrics

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ann Abrams ◽  
Benard P. Dreyer
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Patient Education ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Plain Language ◽  
Reading Levels ◽  
Limited Health Literacy ◽  
Ear Infections ◽  
Limited Health

An essential tool to help improve communication between pediatrician and patient or family, Plain Language Pediatrics offers a framework for implementing a plain language approach to communication in your office, and provides specific steps you can take to ensure the information you present to patients and their parents is clearly understood. Included are 25 reproducible plain language patient education handouts--in English and Spanish! Plain Language Pediatrics combines health literacy and plain language principles to present information in a way that makes it as easy as possible for everyone to understand, and applies these principles to a variety of ambulatory acute, chronic, and preventive conditions. Common pediatric topics such as asthma, ADHD, ear infections, and medical dosing are addressed in detail. This robust resource is divided into 2 parts. Part I explores limited health literacy, including the scope of the problem, how it affects children in particular, and how health care providers can address and overcome health literacy issues with patients and their caregivers. At the heart of Part II is a new series of 25 reproducible patient education handouts in English and Spanish that feature need-to-know information up front, health care terms and jargon, practical pronunciation guides, low reading levels, user-friendly layouts, and simple, purposeful illustrations.

scholarly journals The empowering role of hospitable telemedicine experience in reducing isolation and anxiety: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusi Cheng ◽  
Wei Wei ◽  
Yunying Zhong ◽  
Lu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Emotional Stress ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Perceived Competence ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Control

Purpose This paper aims to explore how hospitable telemedicine services empowered patients during the COVID-19. Expanding from the technology aspect, this research integrated the philosophy of hospitality organizational culture by including factors related to human-human interaction as significant predictors for patients’ sense of empowerment (perceived competence and control) in coping with their emotional stress (anxiety and isolation). Design/methodology/approach Survey data were obtained from 409 general consumers who have used video-based virtual consultation since February 2020. Stepwise multiple regression and simple linear regression analyses were used for hypotheses testing. Findings The results reveal that the doctors’ reliability, responsiveness and empathy significantly predict patients’ perceived competence and control. Perceived usefulness and convenience of telemedicine technology enhance patients’ perceived competence and control. Patients’ sense of empowerment significantly reduces their anxiety and sense of isolation. Research limitations/implications To fully understand the role of hospitality in people’s telemedicine experiences, future studies are encouraged to not only examine the patients-clinicians interactions but also explore the patients-support staff interactions. Practical implications Health care providers’ “bed-side” manners empower patients in managing their emotional stress. Health care providers should be trained for their empathetic ability and communication skills. Strategies such as collaborating with hospitality schools and business schools can be implemented to help build medical student’s patient-centric attitudes and skills. Originality/value This paper provided empirical evidence for the value of hospitality in health care and offered useful suggestions for health care providers, especially by empowering vulnerable people during catastrophic events such as COVID-19.

scholarly journals Accessibility, reliability, and usability of neurosurgical resources

2017 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 1263-1268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nitin Agarwal ◽  
Sumana S. Kommana ◽  
David R. Hansberry ◽  
Ahmed I. Kashkoush ◽  
Robert M. Friedlander ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Patient Education ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Neurosurgical Patient ◽  
Neurological Surgery ◽  
User Friendly

OBJECTIVE Closing the knowledge gap that exists between patients and health care providers is essential and is facilitated by easy access to patient education materials. Although such information has the potential to be an effective resource, it must be written in a user-friendly and understandable manner, especially when such material pertains to specialized and highly technical fields such as neurological surgery. The authors evaluated the accessibility, usability, and reliability of current educational resources provided by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), Healthwise, and the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). METHODS Online neurosurgical patient education information provided by AANS, Healthwise, and NINDS was evaluated using the LIDA scale, a website quality assessment tool, by medical professionals and nonmedical professionals. A high achieving score is regarded as 90% or greater using the LIDA scale. RESULTS Accessibility scores were 76.7% (AANS), 83.3% (Healthwise), and 75.0% (NINDS). Average usability scores for the AANS, Healthwise, and NINDS were 73.3%, 82.6%, and 82.9%, respectively, when evaluated by medical professionals and 78.5%, 80.7%, and 75.9%, respectively, for nonmedical professionals, respectively. Average reliability scores were 58.5%, 53.3%, 72.6%, respectively, for medical professionals and 70.4%, 66.7%, and 78.5%, respectively, for nonmedical professionals when evaluating the AANS, Healthwise, and NINDS websites. CONCLUSIONS Although organizations like AANS, Healthwise, and NINDS should be commended for their ongoing commitment to provide health care–oriented materials, modification of this material is suggested to improve the patient education value.

Medication Errors

2016 ◽  
pp. 100-109
Author(s):  
Titilola T. Obilade
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Medication Errors ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Health Literacy Level ◽  
Literacy Level ◽  
Prevention Of Medication Errors

Depending on the statistics examined, medication errors are responsible for 44000 to 400000 deaths annually. This chapter examined the role of societal attributes in medication errors. Although several studies have been conducted on medication errors there is still no uniformity in the definitions which makes evaluation of medication errors difficult. Despite the non-uniformity of definitions, all the research articles reviewed agreed that enhanced oral and written communications between health care providers and patients or parents of patients was a step towards the prevention of medication errors. The health literacy level of both health care providers and consumers also contribute to medication errors.

The delicate balance of communicational interests: A Bakhtinian view of social media in health care

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chukwuma Ukoha ◽  
Andrew Stranieri
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health Care Settings ◽  
Delicate Balance ◽  
Depth Analysis

Purpose This paper aims to use the writings of Mikhail Bakhtin to reveal new insights into the role and impact of social media in health-care settings. Design/methodology/approach With the help of Bakhtin’s constructs of dialogism, polyphony, heteroglossia and carnival, the power and influences of the social media phenomenon in health-care settings, are explored. Findings It is apparent from the in-depth analysis conducted that there is a delicate balance between the need to increase dialogue and the need to safeguard public health, in the use of social media for health-related communication. Bakhtin‘s constructs elucidate this delicate balance and highlight the need for health-care providers that use social media to find the right balance between these competing communicational priorities. Originality/value This paper advances a nascent theoretical approach to social media research. By applying Bakhtinian ideas to consumer health informatics, this paper has the potential to open a new approach to theorizing the role of social software in health-care settings. Stakeholders in digital health will find this paper useful, as it opens up dialogue to further discuss the role of social media in health care.

Can incivility impair team’s creative performance through paralyzing employee’s knowledge sharing? A multi-level approach

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Sadegh Sharifirad
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Creative Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Collaborative Climate

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how a supervisor’s incivility in teams impact team’s creative performance through the mediating factor of knowledge sharing intention among team members. Moreover, the moderating role of collaborative climate was investigated as protector against leaders’ incivility. Design/methodology/approach – The proposed multi-level model was tested by surveying 312 health care providers nested within 42 work units at eight large hospitals in Iran. Multi-level regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Findings – The findings revealed that those team members experiencing incivility from their supervisors are more likely to show reluctance to share knowledge with team members and as a consequence this response further decreases team’s creative performance. However, the climate of collaboration inside hospitals can buffer the negative impact of incivility on their readiness to share knowledge. Practical implications – In team-based organizations, a supervisor’s incivility can stifle the creative performance of his/her team through blocking the knowledge sharing of members. First, human resource department should have some plans to curtail incivility of supervisors. Second, establishing a climate of collaboration and trust among team members can mitigate the insidious effects of supervisors’ incivility. Originality/value – In prior research studies, the role of incivility on individual outcomes has been highlighted. This paper, according to the best knowledge of the author, is the first considering the negative impact of incivility on team’s performance. Moreover, collaborative climate is a novel moderator considered in this study.

scholarly journals The importance of shared meaning making for sustainable knowledge translation and health literacy. An example from kidney transplantation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Wahl ◽  
Marit Andersen ◽  
John Ødemark ◽  
Anna Reisæther ◽  
Kristin Urstad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Patient Education ◽  
Knowledge Translation ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Kidney Transplant Recipient ◽  
Graft Function ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Shared Meaning

The aim of the present paper is to describe and discuss how recent theories about translation, bridging medical and humanistic understandings of knowledge translation, in the medical humanities (Kristeva et al 2018) can bring about a new understanding of health literacy in the context of patient education. We argue that knowledge translation must be understood as a simultaneous interrogation of the patient’s and the health care providers co-construction of new and shared meanings that can create realities with medical consequences. To illustrate our points, we will describe the case of Jim, a kidney transplant recipient who received standard patient education, but lost the graft (the new kidney). If we apply Kristeva’s view onto this context, graft function is not merely a biology but a complex bio-cultural fact. In this perspective, graft function is seen as a phenomenon that embraces translation between health as a biomedical phenomenon and healing as lived experience, and that opens for shared meaning -making processes between the patient and the health care provider. In Jim’s case this means that we need to rethink the approach to patient education in a way that encourage the patient’s idiosyncratic way of thinking and experiencing – and transform health information into a means for sustaining Jim’s particular life – not life ‘in general’. The patient education program did not take into consideration the singularities of Jim’s biographical temporality, with its changes in everyday life, priorities, attitudes and values. The arguments are generic and could be applied to other contexts.

scholarly journals Rapid Independent Health Literacy Assessment: A Pilot Study Among Native English-speaking and Low English Proficiency Patients

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272110377
Author(s):  
John Blade Hargiss ◽  
Jeffery D. St. Jeor ◽  
Jennifer L. Horn ◽  
Gregory M. Garrison
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Cronbach’S Alpha ◽  
Internal Reliability ◽  
Cronbach's Alpha ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Native English Speaking

Objectives: Health literacy is an individual’s capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions. Failure to understand and correctly execute a plan of care often leads to poor health outcomes. Determining patient health literacy allows health care providers to tailor their plan of care instructions, increasing the probability of understanding, and adherence. Several validated health literacy tests have been developed to assess the health literacy of individuals and ethnic groups. However, because a proctor is required to administer these tests, their usefulness in clinical settings is limited. The issue of health literacy is especially relevant within minority groups. This research focused on producing a translatable assessment that can be administered quickly without a proctor. Methods: We developed a 15-question instrument (the RIHLA) in English using the Delphi method with a panel of bilingual experts and translated it into Spanish. Internal reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha for 3 groups: Native English-speaking College students (NESC), Native English-speaking patients (NES), and Limited English Proficient Spanish-speaking patients (LEP). External validity was assessed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient to compare our instrument to a previously validated, proctored instrument measuring health literacy (the SAHL-E). Results: Four hundred fifteen subjects completed the RIHLA. Of these, 192 (46.3%) were NESC, 208 (50.1%) were NES, and 15 (3.6%) were LEP. The mean number of correct answers was 11.2, 11.6, and 8.3 respectively with the LEP group scoring lower ( P < .01). Cronbach’s alpha was >.70 for each group. Moderate correlation between the RIHLA and the previously validated instrument was present ( P < .01) with Pearson’s r = .47 (95% CI: 0.18-0.69). Conclusion: The RIHLA is a non-proctored assessment tool that may provide a measure of patients’ health literacy in multiple languages. Further studies with larger sample sizes are necessary to confirm the reliability, validity, and generalizability to a wider population.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document