Health communication strategies and technology impact health outcomes, quality of care and health equity. They determine a patient’s ability to make informed decisions and play a significant role in health promotion. December is a time when many families celebrate cultural traditions. Did you know that the ideas people have about health, the language they use, and the contexts in which they communicate about health reflect their culture? You can increase your organization’s communication effectiveness by recognizing and bridging cultural differences.
The CDC webinar, Cultural Competence in Preparedness Planning, can help your organization enhance its cultural competence during emergencies and reduce the disparities among people of different cultural backgrounds. Listen to the recording and find other relevant resources on our Culture & Health Literacy page.
The CDC also offers seven online health literacy courses for health professionals. The recommendation is to start with the introductory course “Health Literacy for Public Health Professionals” and “Writing for the Public” second. The other courses can be taken in any order, depending on your interests.
- Health Literacy for Public Health Professionals (free continuing education)
- Writing for the Public
- Speaking with the Public
- Creating Easier to Understand Lists, Charts, and Graphs
- Fundamentals of Communicating Health Risks
- Using Numbers and Explaining Risk
- Effective Communication for Healthcare Teams: Addressing Health Literacy, Limited English Proficiency and Cultural Differences (free continuing education)
Healthy People 2030
Attaining health literacy is one of Healthy People 2030’s foundational principles and overall goals. Reflecting the evolving understanding of health literacy, Healthy People 2030 has adopted 2 definitions that together constitute health literacy:
- Personal health literacy is the 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 is the 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.