Webinar: Health Literacy Through the PIAAC Lens

Hello, Colleagues,

The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) has provided plentiful data on the literacy, numeracy, and technology-informed problem solving skills of U.S. adults. But what do the data tell you about your learners, and how can you use it to advocate for them?

The National Coalition for Literacy will provide some answers to these questions in a webinar, Health Literacy Through the PIAAC Lens, on Monday, May 4, 3:00-4:15 pm Eastern time.

The webinar, to be moderated by Deborah Kennedy, Center for Applied Linguistics, will include three presentations:

  • Esther Prins, Penn State University, on adult health and its relationship to literacy, numeracy, and technological problem-solving skills
  • Dan Rafter, Spitfire Strategies, on using data to create effective advocacy messages around adult health and health literacy
  • Allison Kokkoros, Carlos Rosario International Charter School, on advocacy in action for adult health and health literacy

Register here:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5153423459688699138

See you at the webinar!

Deborah

Comments

Thank you for this posting, Deborah. I attended several of the PIAAC sessions at COABE and found them very helpful for understanding the data.  Do you know if the summary brief of the health-related data that we received at COABE is available for distribution?  Or, will that be part of the webinar presentation?  And, I particularly appreciate this next step of crafting advocacy messages using the data.

Deborah, I must say that this is probably the simplest webinar sign-up procedure I've ever experienced!

Cynthia

Health Literacy Moderator

 

Thanks, Cynthia. Esther's presentation will reference the work that she, Carol Clymer, and Blaire Toso have done with the PIAAC data. I haven't seen the summary brief that was distributed at COABE, but it may be the same as (or similar to) the summary of Esther et al.'s work that is available on the PIAAC Gateway site at http://piaacgateway.com/us-piaac-conference.

The webinar will also include an interactive activity designed to help participants identify the key points for their informational and advocacy messages.

Deborah

Hi, all. I just want to acknowledge that our Penn State colleague, Shannon Monnat, conducted the statistical analyses and deserves the lion's share of the credit here!

Also, our research did not focus on health literacy, but rather on the relationship between literacy/numeracy/technology skills and adult health. Health literacy research has typically examined how people apply literacy and/or numeracy skills specifically to health-related topics and tasks (usually using health literacy instruments such as the REALM or the TOFHLA). By contrast, our research examined literacy, numeracy, and technological problem-solving writ large and how these are (or are not) associated with self-rated health. The PIAAC did not have people perform literacy, numeracy, or technological problem-solving tasks only on health-related topics (e.g., reading medicine labels, calculating the correct medication dosage for a 30-lb. child); therefore, it does not measure health literacy.

Our research findings *are* relevant to understanding how literacy, numeracy, and technological problem-solving skills, broadly speaking, are related to self-rated health, but I just wanted to clarify that this is not the same thing as health literacy.

Thanks for the additional information and clarifications, Esther and Deborah, and the shoutout to Shannon.  The health-related section is Session 5 on the PIAAC Gateway conference page and actually includes two studies.  I think you will need to go to the conference page for live links:  http://piaacgateway.com/us-piaac-conference (I reversed the order of the sessions since our discussion began with the Penn State report).  Cynthia

  • “Examining Associations between Adult Health and Literacy, Numeracy, Technological Problem-Solving Skills, and Post-Initial Learning in the U.S.” by Esther Prins, Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy and Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy, Pennsylvania State University; Shannon Monnat, Rural Sociology, Demography and Sociology, Pennsylvania State University; Carol Clymer and Blaire Toso, Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy and Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy, Pennsylvania State University.   View summary ›   View powerpoint ›   View full research paper ›   View video ›
  • “Understanding Health Information Seeking Behaviors of Adults with Low Literacy, Numeracy, and Problem Solving Skills” by Iris Feinberg, Institute of Public Health, Georgia State University; Daphne Greenberg, Center for the Study of Adult Literacy, Georgia State University; and Jan C. Frijters, Child and Youth Studies, Brock University.
    View summary ›   View powerpoint ›   View full research paper ›   View video ›