This post was updated Nov. 3 at 7:40 p.m. October is Health Literacy Month. Dr. Timothy Brewer, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine and the Fielding School ...

Taking care of our own health and that of our family is an ongoing part of everyday life, not just when we visit a doctor or hospital. Increasing our health literacy can help us protect our health, ...

Health literacy is a concept that addresses an individual’s ability to “find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.” ...

Most physicians work hard to diagnose patients’ conditions and develop effective treatment plans. However, when any part of that information is misunderstood or poorly communicated, patients may not ...

Health literacy is the ability to find, understand, and use health information to make informed decisions. The U.S. government now recognizes both personal and organizational responsibility for health ...

Many factors impact our health beyond genetics and aging. Collectively, these are called the social determinants of health, and factors such as: education, housing, income, occupation, hunger, ...

Include Family Members. As Jones, Treiber, and Jones state, “it takes a village” to assist a patient who has low health literacy. 13 Not only do the various members of the healthcare team serve in ...

Adult literacy advocate Toni Cordell recounts the story of feeling comforted when her doctor told her that her medical concern could be solved with an easy surgery. She agreed to proceed without ...

This study provides insight on the experiences of patients of a national health plan with 2 structural determinants of health—health care discrimination and health literacy—and how those interact with ...