Health Literacy: Can We Confuse People Less? (On-demand webinar)

Note: This is a recording of a lecture held in 2012.

Training Overview
What is this lecture about? Health literacy is essential for successful access to care and use of services, self-care of chronic conditions, and maintenance of health and wellness. Health literacy is fundamental to healthcare that requires individuals to have a more active role in decisions and management. The IOM reports that 90 million people, nearly half our adult population, lack health literacy skills needed to understand and act on health information and health system demands. Only 12% of U.S. adults have the health literacy proficiency to perform complex health tasks such as using a table to calculate an employee’s share of health insurance costs. Join us for updates on the latest research findings, policy implications, and hands-on tools for addressing the problem.

The course contains two modules: a content module and a resources and evaluation module. After accessing both modules, learners will earn a certificate of completion. When the certificate is available, learners will see a Certificate button on their dashboard.

This recording is approximately 90 minutes. There are no prerequisites. Participants will need a broadband internet connection (Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred browsers) and computer speakers. For technical support, please contact emoryphtc@emory.edu.

About the Trainer
Kara Jacobson received her public health training at the Rollins School of Public Health. She has integrated public health prevention strategies into clinical primary care setting with an emphasis on chronic disease prevention including smoking cessation, physical activity, and nutrition programs primarily for seniors. In addition to development, implementation, and evaluation of successful behavior modification programs, Ms. Jacobson has served as the Director for Grady’s Patient Education Committee. In this position, she provided guidance and leadership for the development and review of patient education materials for the entire health system that were culturally sensitive and of low literacy level. Additionally, she has trained physicians at both Emory and Morehouse School of Medicine on the importance of integrating lifestyle counseling into clinical practice. Kara served as the Director for Educational Programs, Research, and Development for the National Office of the Arthritis Foundation. Currently, she conducts studies that address health literacy interventions and chronic disease self-management programs. She has worked at the American College of Physicians Foundation on improving prescription bottle labels for patients and serves as the literacy consultant to industry and public health institutions. She also teaches a course here at the Rollins School of Public Health: “Health Literacy Importance as a Public Health Problem”.

Dr. Ruth Parker is a professor of medicine with pediatrics and also at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. She is nationally and internationally recognized for her research, educational, and advocacy efforts to advance health literacy. She was the co-investigator on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Literacy and Healthcare Project and helped develop the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults, the TOFHLA. She co-authored the Definition of Health Literacy for Healthy People 2010 for the Institute of Medicine and NIH and has authored many scholarly pieces on health literacy. She served in leadership roles for professional societies including the AMA, the ACP Foundation, and has consulted with many federal and state agencies. She was a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Health Literacy Committee and is currently a member of their health literacy roundtable. She has received national recognition for her work including the Silver Achievement Award from the AAMC and the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award from the ACP in 2005 as well as the FDA Advisory Committee Service Award in 2008. In 2011, she was named national associate of the National Research Council for the National Academies.

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB6HP31680, Public Health Training Centers for $4,348,992. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.