[Health literacy: the new outcome indicator for evaluating a health education program]

Through health promotion campaigns, health literacy has become a vital factor in determining a population's health in terms of the macro view of health. Since the 1990s, the concept has been increasingly valued in American health circles. Health literacy not only means understanding medical information, but also implies the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand the basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. There are three instruments for estimating individuals' health literacy, including the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) , the Short-Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (Short-TOFHLA) and the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). Literature review reveals that health literacy is an important indicator for evaluating the effectiveness of a health education program for the 21st century. The author suggests that nurses adopt such strategies for health education as designing educational materials that prompt introspection, using a range of Internet technologies and designing strategies of community empowerment to conduct health education programs, in order to improve clients' health literacy and raise the effectiveness of such programs.