Findings From Performing an Organizational Health Literacy Assessment in Community-Based Health Organizations

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Public Health
• Health Communication

Background:

• Organizations must reduce cognitive demands and enhance health literacy support for improved patient understanding and service access.
• Most organizational health literacy (OHL) studies focus on clinical settings, lacking clear change strategies.
• Community-based organizations are vital sources of everyday health information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To guide community-based health organizations in conducting environmental health literacy assessments.
• To operationalize assessment results into actionable plans for improving OHL.
• To identify best practices for OHL assessment in community settings.

Main Methods:

• A novel health literacy Pledge Program facilitated OHL self-assessments.
• Ten diverse organizations (clinics, community centers, housing providers) participated.
• The Health Literacy Environment of Hospitals and Health Centers (HLE2) tool was used, followed by structured discussions and thematic analysis.

Main Results:

• All participating organizations successfully completed the HLE2 assessment.
• Overall low scores indicated significant opportunities for OHL improvement.
• Identified themes aligned with OHL domains for enhancing service understandability and accessibility.

Conclusions:

• This study is the first OHL research including non-clinical community-based organizations.
• OHL assessment and action planning are needed and accepted by community organizations.
• Further research should explore trusted community settings for OHL best practices.