Improving Health Literacy Knowledge, Behaviors, and Confidence with Interactive Training

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Medical Education
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Limited health literacy negatively impacts patient health outcomes.
• Organizational efforts to improve health literacy have primarily focused on hospitals, neglecting primary care settings.
• Patient-centered medical home models necessitate addressing health literacy training needs in primary care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop, implement, and evaluate an interactive health literacy training intervention for primary care clinics.
• To assess the impact of the training on primary care staff's knowledge, behaviors, and confidence in applying health literacy strategies.
• To identify barriers and facilitators to the effective use of health literacy strategies in primary care.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive pre- and post-training design was employed with over 475 primary care staff participants across 25 clinics.
• The intervention included an online educational module, in-person application activities, and a sustainability plan.
• Surveys were administered pre-training, post-training, and at a 1-year follow-up to measure knowledge, behaviors, confidence, and sustainability.

Main Results:

• The interactive training intervention led to significant improvements in primary care staff's health literacy knowledge, behaviors, and confidence.
• Participants demonstrated increased ability to apply health literacy strategies with patients and families.
• Key barriers and facilitators influencing the adoption of health literacy strategies were identified.

Conclusions:

• Interactive health literacy training is effective in enhancing primary care staff's capacity to address patient health literacy.
• Sustainability of practice change requires ongoing support, reinforcement, and integration with organizational goals.
• Addressing identified barriers and promoting facilitators are crucial for successful and sustained implementation of health literacy strategies in primary care.