Resources
By Topic - Plain Language and Health Literacy
General Information and Tools | Plain Language Glossary | Clear Communication Guide
General Information and Tools
Clear & Simple: Developing Effective Print Materials for Low-Literate Readers
National Cancer Institute
http://www.cancer.gov/cancerinformation/clearandsimple
This guide, developed by the National Cancer Institute, outlines a process for developing publications for people with limited literacy skills.
Clear and to the Point: Guidelines for Using Plain Language at NIH
Harvard School of Public Health
http://execsec.od.nih.gov/plainlang/guidelines/index.html
Developed by the National Institutes of Health, this is a quick summary of most of the main concepts of plain language writing, including examples of “translations” and SMOG.
Communicating Health: Priorities and Strategies for Progress
http://odphp.osophs.dhhs.gov/projects/HealthComm/
This publication provides in-depth action plans for each of the six Healthy People 2010 Health Communication Objectives, including Objectives 11-2 and 11-6 on health literacy.
Health Literacy: A Manual for Clinicians
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/367/healthlitclinicians.pdf
Developed by the AMA in 2003, this booklet provides general information on what health literacy is and why it is important; tips on how to estimate a patient’s literacy level; and an overview on communicating effectively with patients orally and in writing.
Literacy and Health Outcomes
www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/litsum.htm
This report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) provides a systematic review of the literature on literacy, its relationship to various health outcomes and disparities, and the effectiveness of health literacy interventions.
New England Literacy Resource Center
http://www.nelrc.org/
NELRC works to strengthen adult literacy services in New England through sharing and collaborative projects among adult literacy professional development providers, practitioners and policy-makers.
Pfizer Clear Health Communication Initiative
http://www.pfizerhealthliteracy.org/
This website has information about health literacy and plain language communication for health providers, media, public health professionals, and public policy workers.
Scientific and Technical Information Simply Put
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/cdcynergy_training/content/activeinformation/resources/simpput.pdf
This guide, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), helps health care providers translate complicated scientific and technical information into written materials that capture and keep the interest of the intended audience.
SMOG Readability Calculator
http://www.harrymclaughlin.com/SMOG.htm
The Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) is designed to assess the reading level of written materials. It is an easy to interpret system which expresses the result as a school grade level based on two aspects of text: word length and sentence length.
Teaching Patients with Low Literacy Skills
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy/resources/doak-book/
This book is now considered a classic text in health literacy. The authors are often introduced at health literacy conferences as 'the grandparents' of health literacy.
The Health Literacy Environment of Hospitals and Health Centers: Partners for
Action: Making Your Healthcare Facility Literacy-Friendly
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=1167
The guide and the review tools offer an approach for analyzing literacy-related barriers to healthcare access and navigation. This guide was designed to help managers improve the health literacy environment of their healthcare facilities to better serve their patients and staff and ultimately to increase revenue.
The Health Literacy of America's Adults: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL)
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006483
This report is the first release of the NAAL health literacy results. The results are based on assessment tasks designed specifically to measure the health literacy of adults living in the United States. Health literacy was reported using four performance levels: Below Basic, Basic, Intermediate and Proficient.
The Plain Language Initiative
http://execsec.od.nih.gov/plainlang/index.html
This website was created to provide resources to help writers achieve the goal of plain language at NIH.
Note: You'll need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader program to view the PDF files on your computer.
