Health literacy design principles from a designer’s point of view (Introduction)

Health literacy can be one of those terms that you either understand in its pure form or make the wrong assumptions about its meaning.

Health literacy design principles evolved since the 1990s by defining, redefining, and quantifying the functional literacy needs of a patient population, specifically focused on the literacy level of the audience. Through research and time-tested methodologies, it became apparent that a low literacy level can affect an audience’s understanding of their health and their healthcare behaviors. This low literacy level has been proven to be a barrier that prevents someone from better serving their ability to “taking their healthcare under their control.” This literacy challenge can have a profound effect on how well one understands their unique healthcare situation. This challenge extends from they are communicating with healthcare professionals (HCPs), community entities, family, and peers.

Health literacy is dependent on several individual and systemic factors, such as:

• Layperson and professional knowledge of health topics
• Communication skills of laypersons and healthcare professionals
• Culture and social environments
• Demands of the healthcare and public health systems the audience are exposed to
• Demands of the health-related situation/context in which it is presented

Health literacy affects people’s ability to:

• Engage in “proactive” self-care and chronic-disease management over an extended period of time
• Navigate the healthcare system, including filling out forms, locating providers, understanding services, and communicating with insurance carriers and representatives
• Share personal information, such as health history with healthcare providers at all levels
• Understand the concept of probability and risk related to their unique healthcare challenge

So how does all of this relate to design?
Whether print or digital, the understanding principles of health literacy play a key role in determining what a designer needs to understand. The scope of health literacy extends from the conceptual stage, writing, design implementation, testing if appropriate, and final dissemination into the community. Plain language is the methodology of constructing written content so that a defined audience can “Find,” “Understand,” and “Use” the information to better serve their own healthcare needs.

The Plain Writing Act of 2010 defines plain language consisting of writing that is clear, concise, well-organized and follows other best practices appropriate to the subject or field and intended audience.

So as you can see, health literacy has a set of guidelines and a foundation of principles that a project needs to consider to ensure the best communication tool for the audience. In subsequent articles to follow, I will explain in more depth some of the “visual” considerations that play a crucial role in health literacy. The bottom line, if your next communication tool can potentially be affected by an audience that has a low literacy level, health literacy must play a role.