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How Health Literacy Got Started
What's
New in Health Literacy Consulting: 10.01.2018 by Helen Osborne
Curious
about how, when, and why health literacy got started, I posted a query in the
online Health Literacy Discussion List. Here is a brief recap
of what I learned about our health literacy history:
1974.
The first mention of the term “health literacy” was in a monograph by SK
Simonds, “Health Education as Social Policy” published the next year in Proceedings
of the Will Rogers Conference on Health Education. In this monograph, health
literacy is framed within the context of social policy.
1978.
Leonard and Cecile Doak (whom many consider as the founders of health literacy
as we know it today) studied the reading skills of hospitalized patients. The
Doaks, along with Jane Root, co-authored the landmark book Teaching Patients with Low Literacy Skills, first published
in 1985. Listen to this Health Literacy Out Loud podcast interview with
Len and Ceci Doak.
Early
1990s. Inspired by the work of Dr. Harold Freeman (then President of the
American Cancer Society), Wendy Mettger and others at the National Cancer
Institute and the AMC Cancer Research Center created the National Work Group on
Cancer and Literacy. This group brought together experts from diverse
fields. Many of them research, practice, teach, and continue as health
literacy leaders today.
Mid
1990s. Others got involved in health literacy issues and initiatives. They not
only included physicians and other clinicians but also literacy practitioners,
teachers, researchers, health communicators, patient educators, medical
librarians, disability professionals, and social justice and environmental
activists. The lay public, including new readers (adults learning to read) also
became active in health literacy. Listen to my podcast interview with Archie Willard about his
experience as a struggling reader.
Late1990s.
Health literacy gained worldwide attention. Leaders included Irving Rootman and
Linda Shohet of Canada, Donald Nutbeam of Australia, and Ilona Kickbush of
Germany. Health
Literacy Month, a worldwide awareness-raising event, was started by Helen
Osborne in 1999. READ
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