How do low literacy learners best integrates visual information for medical compliance?

Hi Everyone,

 

I am new to the list and I wanted to introduce myself.  My name is Brandi Detofsky and I am a new Medical Librarian at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children.  I came here to pick the brains of the group for a difficult topic I am working on.  One of the residents at the hospital approached me about help with a project he is working on.  At the hospital, they are working on improving the quality of patient handouts for discharge, and we are dealing with an especially low literacy population.  This resident (as well as a team of other residents and doctors) are trying to create their own patient handouts from scratch and are trying to figure out the best format to ensure medical compliance upon discharge.  My question to the group is can anyone direct me to information on how a low literacy population best integrates visual information?  Any help is much appreciated.

 

Brandi

Comments

Hi Brandi,

That's a great question. It's impressive that this resident is trying to understand the processes behind this challenge, rather than a quick fix!

My first suggestion is to read the old standby, Teaching Patients with Low Literacy Skills, by Len and Ceci Doak and Jane Root. The whole book will be helpful, but especially read Chapter 7 on page 91: Visuals and How to Use them. This should address your question about how poor readers integrate visual information.

Then try going to this list of resources for writing health education materials that people with low literacy skills can understand: Plain Language Resources from IHA' Health Literacy Matters

I hope these help!

Julie