Health Literacy

Health literacy is broadly described as the degree to which individuals can obtain, process, and understand health information to make health-related decisions (Health Resources and Services Administration, 2024). Healthy People 2030 has expanded this definition to address health literacy at the personal and organizational level:

Personal health literacy: “Degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others”

Organizational health literacy: “Degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand and use information and services to inform-health related decisions and actions for themselves and others”

The new definitions of health literacy highlight the importance of one’s ability to use information rather than solely understand material. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance and responsibility of organizations to address health literacy (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion [HHS ODPHP], n.d.).

Factors that impact a person’s level of health literacy includes personal, situational, and socioenvironmental factors. Personal factors include gender, age, education, occupation, income, and insurance; whereas situational factors include marital status, living conditions, and peer groups. Socioenvironmental factors include culture and language spoken (Chiu et al.,2020). As such, it is important for public health organizations to consider these factors in considering how they can improve access to public health information that is equitable for all individuals. One strategy is to adopt health literacy “universal precautions,” which takes into perspective that all individuals may have difficulty understanding health care instructions (Seidel, Cortes, & Chong, 2023).

Complete Health Literacy and Public Health: Introduction (35 min) This course provides information on the role of public health professionals in promoting health literacy (CPHCE, 2025).

Please note that if you do not already have an account, you must register for a free account on CPHCE prior to completing this course.
Continuing education credits for this course are provided by the Public Health Training Center (PHTC). Follow the steps within the course to obtain your certificate of completion. Continuing education credits for this course will not be provided through ICEP.

	Bookmark Everyday Words for Public Health Communication This resource provides terms commonly used in public health and replaces them with plain language words or sentences (CDC, 2015). You may find it helpful to print out this resource and reference it throughout your professional practice. An interactive version of this tool can be found here.
	Bookmark Public Health Communications Collaborative This website offers communication tools for public health professionals, including messaging resources, answers to tough questions, how to address misinformation, webinars, and other related topic information (Public Health Communications Collaborative, 2024).

	Bookmark Communication Access Communication access ensures that people with communication disabilities can fully participate in and benefit from services using necessary supports. The ACCESS framework described below is built on six core principles that promote effective communication (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2025). Scroll to the bottom of the webpage for communication aids, additional education, and related resources. A video further describing ACCSS and other communication access tools is linked as a Recommended Resource below. [JM1] (© 2025 ASHA. Used with permission)
	Read Checklist for Plain Language Federal agencies are required to use plain language in public communication as described by the Plain Writing Act (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.). This resource from The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) provides a checklist to see if your documents meet plain language requirements (PLAIN, n.d.).
	Read Plain Language for Public HealthPlain Language for Public Health[JM2] This guide describes plain language principles and simple techniques that can make communications more accessible. (Public Health Communications Collaborative, n.d.)