Welcome to Week 3

In Week 1 we considered people trying to access, understand, appraise and apply health information. These are core components of health literacy, a concept we explored. We identified that the research evidence shows that people with limited health literacy experience poorer health outcomes. We also found that the pan European survey evidence indicates that a lot of people in the general population have limited health literacy.

In Week 2 we examined approaches that have the potential to mitigate the negative health effects of unmet health literacy needs in healthcare settings, specifically the Universal Precautions approach and a more tailored, person centred approach. We explored the role of empowerment and the efficacy of screening for limited health literacy.

In Week 3 we are going to look in more detail at ways health professionals and others working in health(care) sectors can reduce barriers and enable patients to make informed decisions about their health.