Poster sessions

Health educators and religious preachers are confronted with the similar challenge of providing a complicated, and sometimes difficult-to-hear message to an audience with varying levels of knowledge and engagement. The field of health literacy has grown significantly over the last generation as it has become apparent that many patients do not understand the information presented to them by their doctor, or healthcare team. Efforts have been made in the healthcare and health education community to provide guidance for healthcare professionals in best practices for delivering health information. These best practices include eliminating jargon, using clear and concise messaging, making the message actionable, and assessing the understanding of the message by having the person repeat back what they have heard. These best practices are becoming standard within the healthcare community. For example, the reading level of patient education materials are critically analyzed, based on the reading level of the document. While these practices are new to healthcare, these ideas and concepts are not new at all. The purpose of this session is to derive practical applications from the interdisciplinary study of the fields of health literacy and preaching. We strive to address the health literacy challenges of today using the time-honored work of Augustine, a bishop in the early 5th century whose intellectual and pastoral legacy still endures. This work goes back to Aristotle and Cicero. The wisdom Augustine continued to be relevant through the middle-ages and are still in use today, including the key themes of not watering down the information, but breaking it open, teaching with the end in mind, and using zones of development to keep the information relevant and engaging. These principles apply, not only to the health educator, but also to preachers, and other practitioners of adult education.

In a health care system, most providers recognize the importance of informed consent. But what is being done to ensure patients understand what they are agreeing to, and why is that important related to health literacy practices? Henry Ford Health's Organizational Health Literacy and Patient Education team continues to lead an interdisciplinary quality initiative to evaluate, update, and implement health literacy principles in the context of patient consent. The interprofessional team has worked together to identify how to integrate best practices around informed consent, plain language, design and formatting, translation considerations, and dissemination strategies while maintaining the appropriate legal and regulatory components required. This is all part of the larger communication and education plan for patients receiving care for the prevention or management of disease. This presentation will describe the original process of creating consent forms, steps taken to update the process, the result of updating the categories of patient signature forms and the form layouts, feedback from patients, addressing the legal and regulatory requirements, barriers still faced, and the opportunity to engage in questions and conversations around this important topic.

"In large health systems, bringing interprofessional health care teams together for health promotion and disease management initiatives, specifically in the context of health literacy, can have its constraints. Through the work of a system interprofessional council, Henry Ford Health has been able to create system level, collaborative health literate health promotion and disease management programing and education.

Henry Ford Health took on the grass roots approach to creating standardization and system alignment for patient education and communication material. The program started small with a council that's only focus was to provide a space to educate staff on health literacy and clear communication. With a slow start, over the past 7 years, the program has grown to now be an interprofessional working council with a focus on system alignment, and disease management and health promotion programming. It serves as a hub for this work within the health system.

This session will focus on the systematic approach Henry Ford Health took to establish the council, including the barriers and successes of the work. System tools, standards, and policy will be shared to help organizations replicate, or optimize their already existing organizational structure. "
"In large health systems, bringing interprofessional health care teams together for health promotion and disease management initiatives, specifically in the context of health literacy, can have its constraints. Through the work of a system interprofessional council, Henry Ford Health has been able to create system level, collaborative health literate health promotion and disease management programing and education.

Henry Ford Health took on the grass roots approach to creating standardization and system alignment for patient education and communication material. The program started small with a council that's only focus was to provide a space to educate staff on health literacy and clear communication. With a slow start, over the past 7 years, the program has grown to now be an interprofessional working council with a focus on system alignment, and disease management and health promotion programming. It serves as a hub for this work within the health system.

This session will focus on the systematic approach Henry Ford Health took to establish the council, including the barriers and successes of the work. System tools, standards, and policy will be shared to help organizations replicate, or optimize their already existing organizational structure. "

A root cause analysis, as part of a Patient Experience Plan-Do-Study-Act, identified contributing factors to low scores on Patient Satisfaction surveys in the category of Medication Side Effects. The Clinical Supervisor used a literature review as the foundation for this project. The nursing study showed increased patient understanding of new medications and their side effects when easy to understand education labels were put on hospital water mugs and explained in combination with teach back. The nursing study was replicated and piloted on our Med/Surg unit. The goals were to: 1. Increase Q3 Likelihood to Recommend (by provider or facility) score by 3 points from baseline (Q322 score 70.83%, FY22 score 73.27%). 2. Increase Q3 Medication Side Effects score by 7 points from baseline (Q123 score average 36.19%). Our Med/Surg unit met the goal to increase Q3 Medication Side Effects score by 7 points. Based on project results, our team would recommend implementation of “Mug Shots” education for Medication Side Effects in acute care units.

Sometimes, improving communication is as simple as fixing a broken link.
At Clear Language Lab we support a diverse range of organizations in using plain language strategies to communicate effectively with their audience. In this session we’ll look at 10 of the most common and easy-to-fix issues that we notice in written communication.
Throughout this session, we’ll use examples of real world communications to illustrate common issues and share easy solutions. We’ll explore how these issues impact equitable access to health information. Participants will learn to identify easy-to-fix issues in their materials and leave this session with concrete strategies they can apply to a wide range of written communication, including newsletters, emails, flyers, educational materials, and web content.

Libraries across the United States have started offering telehealth services as a strategy for addressing inequities in digital access to healthcare. In response, the Network of the National Library of Medicine formed a Telehealth Interest Group to determine how the outreach arm of the world’s largest biomedical research library could support libraries interested in empowering patrons to make virtual visits to their healthcare providers. NNLM created an asynchronous course and webinar series for librarians and other staff interested in learning more about telehealth in libraries. The asynchronous class is scaffolded in a way that provides a mental model for entry points into telehealth programming, while the webinar series takes a deeper look at telehealth topics.Team members worked with an instructional designer to create Telehealth 101: What Libraries Need to Know and an accompanying webinar series that further delves into telehealth programming topics. The content covers various approaches to library telehealth, privacy and policy considerations, and highlights libraries that have incorporated community health workers and digital navigators as part of their telehealth programming. While the webinar series looked at telehealth consortiums, social inequities in telehealth, and telehealth programming in rural libraries.The asynchronous course continues to be offered for free using NNLM’s online platform and carries three continuing-education credits from the Medical Library Association. Team members plan to share course survey feedback data and future plans to expand the webinar series.

Representatives from interprofessional health care teams offer unique perspectives based on their academic training and experiences. However, to effectively support an individual or community in the pursuit of prevention, health promotion, and management of disease, we must incorporate health literacy principles into communication at every level of care. This broad-based approach to effective communication includes written, in-person, and over the phone. And it requires a coordinated effort to establish a culture of health literacy throughout the organization where effective communication is at the core of every message.

The Institute for Healthcare Advancement (IHA) developed an assessment-based Health Literacy Specialist Certificate (HLSC) program that offers professional growth and development for the diverse professions responsible for communicating health. This program extends health literacy recommendations to a diverse range of professionals including providers, nurses, public health professionals, customer service representatives and communication experts. Each department within an organization can implement these guidelines into their everyday tasks.

Currently several organizations in Orange County have implemented this program in their pursuit to become a health literate organization. For example, CalOptima Health, Orange County’s Medi-Cal provider, has enrolled over 175 employees in departments including customer service, regulatory affairs, and case management. Orange County’s public health department, social services agency, and local health clinic are following suit.

The proposed presentation is an overview of our 3-hour class Sweet Talk/Conversación Dulce created by Diabetes Educators, Dietitians, Registered Nurses, Pre-Med students, Community Health Workers and other volunteers, to teach the essentials of diabetes education and self-management to adult learners from disadvantaged communities. This class was created to provide tools and empower people with Diabetes, though it can be used in a variety of sessions, and it can be tailored and adapted to meet the needs of the target audience. The format will include portions of our Train the Trainer program and a short preview of the interactive videos presented in the full version of the program.
This session will discuss the importance of the prevention of one of the most common chronic conditions, which is one of the three leading diseases, causing dissability and death in many communities in the United States. This session will use case studies to illustrate strategies, such as BELIEF, ERDS, OARS, etc., to evoke positive engagement in self-management and behavioral change. It will demonstrate a simple, concise and practical way in which diabetes self-management education can be disseminated to adult learners through community health workers, promotoras de salud, health educators, and health coaches in a culturally appropriate manner, using adult learning principles. This curriculum for Sweet Talk has been developed in a straightforward approach and with relevant culturally appropriate material in English and Spanish.

The format for the session includes alternating presentation, case studies and discussion sections. This blend of didactic information and communal conversation fosters a unique environment for participants to both learn and share their own experiences.

Health literacy is the degree that individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others. It is further understood to be the ability to use general literacy skills , such as reading, writing, numeracy, listening and speaking, in obtaining, understanding, appraising, communicating and eventually applying health-related information to their personal behaviors. This interactive workshop explores tools which may be used to enhance “being present” to neighborhoods and communities that are being supported in health literacy with the goal and expectation of improved health related decisions and behaviors.

Participants will discuss the variables present within neighborhoods and the skills and strategies which can be employed to build on the strengths of those neighborhoods and help close any gaps. A discussion of the importance of the knowledge and understanding of the historic context and lens guiding the health literacy of the community will be included. The workshop will help illustrate how the best outcomes will occur when the philosophy of “Place Matters” is maintained.

Recognizing that health literacy plays a large part in health outcomes, the medical school liaison librarians at the University of Minnesota partner with the Medical School on a health literacy assignment that is integrated into a Family Medicine Clerkship class all medical students are required to complete. The patient handout assignment is paired with another assignment in which students are asked to search for and critically appraise an article that applies to a clinical scenario they have witnessed during their clinical observations. For the patient handout, students must adequately explain their findings to their patient and offer potential health recommendations while keeping their written language at a 6th grade level or below.

The students and librarians use the Hemingway Editor to verify the grade level, and when the students present their findings, the librarians offer feedback as to how to make the patient handouts easier to read and more accessible to patients with low health literacy. These include suggestions like adding pictures, using simpler words, and avoiding words with double meanings, like “episode” or “address.” We also demonstrate resources like the University of Michigan's Plain Language Medical Dictionary, and PlainLanguage.gov guidelines to ensure students are consciously thinking about how to effectively communicate with patients.

In addition to addressing health literacy in relation to how the physician communicates with their patients, we also discuss health literacy in terms of what resources physicians recommend to their patients for additional information. Students are required to recommend three consumer resource websites to their patients, and the students must verify that the websites are appropriate for their patients, i.e. written for a patient, produced by non-biased sources, and not commercial in scope.

Vaccination is a critical tool for reducing adverse health impacts of Covid-19, including infections, hospitalizations, and death. During vaccine rollout, underserved populations across Wisconsin were less likely to be vaccinated against Covid-19, leading to health disparities. Covid-19 vaccine acceptance is impacted by barriers in accessing medical care and historic mistrust of the health care system. The Vaccine Community Outreach Program (VCO) is a two-year project (April 2022-2024) funded through the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, to promote vaccine acceptance across Wisconsin, while addressing barriers. Through partnerships with 31 community-based organizations statewide reaching populations with low rates of Covid-19 vaccination, the VCO program adapted outreach methods to meet the needs of each community; with the goal of promoting health, science of digital literacy; understanding successful outreach strategies; and addressing barriers to Covid-19 vaccination. Trusted community messengers at participating organizations led outreach efforts, which included a variety of methods: one-on-one communication, community events, mass communication campaigns and educational workshops. Regional VCO Specialists supported this work and engaged in network building and organizational capacity building around health communication, grant administration and program evaluation.

Lower levels of health literacy among women are directly linked to adverse health outcomes, impacting both prevention and management of various conditions. Understanding the evolving nature of health literacy alongside other health indicators is essential for developing targeted interventions and policies to promote better health outcomes for women.This study investigates trends in women's health literacy alongside obesity, exercise habit, healthcare access, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk from 2012 to 2020. Using data from the Kansas Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), demographic factors such as race, age, education, and income are examined to discern patterns in health literacy and associated risks. Employing trend analysis across these time points, we aim to identify vulnerable groups and disparities in health outcomes. We anticipate observing improvements in health literacy and associated health outcomes, as evidenced by various indicators. However, despite these advancements, certain populations may remain at risk, including minorities, individuals with lower educational attainment, and those with limited income. This study's findings can guide targeted interventions and policies to enhance women's health literacy and tackle health outcome disparities. Identifying groups with increased risk of inadequate health literacy allows policymakers and public health practitioners to formulate strategies for better health education and culturally targeted interventions. Overall, this research aids in advancing our comprehension of women's health literacy and its impact on women’s health equity.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role of vaccination in controlling transmission and mitigating its impact. However, non-English-speaking populations often face significant obstacles in accessing vaccination services due to language barriers, cultural differences, and historical mistrust. This project addresses these challenges through targeted outreach efforts aimed at promoting vaccine acceptance. Our objective is to bridge the gap in COVID-19 vaccination rates among non-English-speaking communities by removing barriers and increasing awareness. Through strategic partnerships and tailored approaches, we aim to improve access to vaccination services and empower communities with accurate information about COVID-19 risks, vaccine safety, and availability. Between April 2022 and February 2024, we launched an initiative targeting regions with low vaccination rates. Through meticulous data analysis, we identified community-based organizations suited for focused outreach efforts. Partnering with these organizations, we conducted targeted outreach events, established vaccine clinics, and developed culturally relevant educational materials. Monthly meetings and quarterly activity reports facilitated ongoing program evaluation and adaptation. Through collaborative efforts and tailored interventions, our project aims to address the unique challenges faced by non-English-speaking communities in accessing COVID-19 vaccines. By fostering community engagement and providing culturally sensitive resources, we strive to increase vaccination rates and contribute to controlling the spread of COVID-19 among underserved populations.

The Plain community, encompassing groups such as the Amish and Mennonites, embodies a unique cultural enclave in North America, valuing simplicity and separation from mainstream society. This distinctive lifestyle significantly shapes healthcare decisions, including attitudes towards vaccination. Despite recognizing the importance of vaccination, Plain communities in Wisconsin exhibit low COVID-19 vaccination rates due to barriers like limited education, communication, and cultural beliefs. Furthermore, the reserved nature of community members may result in underreported vaccine acceptance, emphasizing the need for tailored strategies. This project aims to address low COVID-19 vaccination rates within Plain communities by removing barriers and fostering vaccine acceptance. Objectives include leveraging existing relationships, customizing strategies to community needs, and enhancing knowledge about COVID-19 risks, vaccine safety, and access points. From April 2022 to February 2024, a specialized initiative was launched to target low vaccination rates within Plain communities. A VCO specialist, drawing from personal experience and discussions with community experts, identified regions with inadequate vaccination rates. Engaging community leaders, the project facilitated targeted outreach efforts, including health information events, educational material development, and monthly strategy review meetings. By tailoring strategies and engaging with community leaders, this project seeks to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates among Plain communities, ultimately promoting health and well-being.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, stands as a microcosm of urban segregation, presenting significant challenges in ensuring equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, especially in marginalized communities. This poster showcases an initiative tailored to address low vaccination rates and foster acceptance within underserved populations. Our project aims to dismantle barriers and promote COVID-19 vaccination acceptance in communities historically mistrustful of medical systems and with limited healthcare access. By leveraging existing community relationships and tailored strategies, we seek to increase vaccine uptake and mitigate disparities. Spanning April 2022 to February 2024, our initiative meticulously analyzed data to pinpoint areas with the lowest vaccination rates. Through partnerships with community-based organizations, we implemented targeted outreach efforts, encompassing recruitment, partnership selection, and program execution. Our activities included culturally sensitive outreach events, accessible vaccine clinics, educational material development, social media campaigns, and barrier advocacy. Our initiative successfully established partnerships with champion organizations and conducted culturally relevant outreach activities. Monthly meetings and quarterly reports facilitated ongoing adaptation to community needs. Preliminary findings indicate heightened awareness and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines among our target populations. This poster underscores the significance of community engagement and partnership building in addressing vaccine equity in segregated communities. By breaking down barriers and fostering acceptance, our initiative seeks to mitigate COVID-19 risks and enhance health outcomes in underserved Milwaukee neighborhoods.

Navigating the U.S. healthcare system has been described by many Americans as being a complex and overwhelming experience. For immigrants with limited English proficiency, the system can be even more daunting. For those seeking employment in the healthcare field, it is essential that they have the necessary language and workforce readiness skills needed to obtain and succeed in a healthcare profession. For others, the challenge is having the knowledge, language skills, and confidence to effectively navigate the healthcare system to ensure adequate care for themselves and their family members. BurlingtonEnglish is an innovative, web-based curriculum for adult language learners designed to develop English language proficiency and enable individuals to pursue their academic and career goals.

A hallmark of informed and responsive healthcare is assessing patient health literacy (Drassen Ham 2013, Keene Woods, Medina, Reyes, and Chesser 2023). However, few researchers share practical strategies for applying results to improve health disparities.  The goal of this study was to synthesize findings demonstrating how researchers address health literacy using culturally informed and responsive care methods. Inclusion criteria for the articles reviewed included: the study had to be published during the most recent five years, be peer-reviewed, be in the English language, and explicitly cover some aspect of being “culturally informed” in relation to health literacy. Twenty articles were included in the final review. Study participants ranged from 15 to 2954 with mean of 278. Studies were published between 2018-2023 including 5 studies outside U.S. and 15 in U.S. Standard healthcare search methods (MeSH, CINAHL) did not recognize “culturally informed care” as a term and “culturally competent care” remains common usage. Most studies were of "underserved" or "minority" populations (i.e., African American women, Arabic-speaking women, Korean American immigrants). Researchers used traditional approaches to address low health literacy (teach back, plain language, translated print materials, and interpreter services) but specifically deployed these methods when serving "other", minoritized, and/or non-native English-speaking populations. Our results demonstrate a need for continued training and implementation of Universal Precautions to impact health equity.  This poster calls on researchers and educators to thoughtfully engage new approaches by expanding attention to health literacy and diffusion of culturally informed and responsive care principles.

This project aims to create an audiovisual health education hub for a population with high rates of medical mistrust and housing insecurity. We first began this venture as a partnership between interprofessional students and a veterinary clinic providing care for low-income clients’ pets known as WisCares. WisCares came to the Center for Interprofessional Education at UW-Madison to express that many clients ask human health related questions at WisCares due to a variety of factors, including mistrust, inaccessibility, and low health literacy. To address this need, we have spearheaded a collaboration between UW healthcare students to create health information videos for WisCares to permanently host on their website. Video topics were suggested by WisCares staff and will be designed to suit low health literacy levels: for example, how to refill a prescription or what to expect during a visit to the emergency room, including an explanation of what each health professional’s role does. These videos will be reviewed by nurses, doctors, and the WisCares staff, so their combined perspectives on patient care inform our efforts to create content which is helpful to the population in question.

This project promotes a focus on interprofessional work to further community health, and highlights the value of shifting from a multidisciplinary mindset to an interprofessional one. When we began our interprofessional work with the Veterinary School, we hosted a Health Fair to establish the presence of the School of Nursing, School of Medicine, and School of Pharmacy in the WisCares clinic. We hope to make this an annual event to provide further resources for our community, form strong connections with our schools’ health students and the community, and promote public trust with healthcare providers. We believe this event laid important groundwork for an exchange of information and questions between WisCares clients and UW healthcare students.

To navigate legal options of healthcare planning of advance directive, DNR or POLST forms in different chapters of life and associated provider/patient/family vital quality-of-life conversations one needs to utilize multiple types of literacy skills. There are also many other unseen forces involved in healthcare planning to acknowledge.

Background: The use of technology is one way to engage patients in their health management. UW Health implemented MyChart Care Companion to provide a digital connection to empower patients in their pregnancy journey.

Purpose: The goal of MyChart Care Companion is to empower patients during their pregnancy. The combination of written information during clinical visits and digital information through MyChart helps to reinforce health care and behaviors. As a patient’s confidence improves, it reassures them in their care and limits frequent phone calls and MyChart messages to their care team. This in-turn helps the care team prioritize urgent daily needs.

Method: UW Health implemented MyChart Care Companion with patients in their healthy pregnancy journey. A multi-disciplinary workgroup, reviewed education content to provide a customized patient experience. The education topics selected by the workgroup focused on the most frequently asked questions or concerns patients have during pregnancy. The workgroup selected content that reflected health literacy standards and was inclusive of body types, race, and ethnicity.

Prior to implementation, providers and staff learned about MyChart Care Companion. Flyers posted in clinic rooms included information about enrollment for patients. Those who enrolled were able to ask questions and care teams could monitor the patient’s engagement and review any questions in their clinic appointments.

Results: There was quick adoption to MyChart Care Companion. Within 2 days, 163 people enrolled, and in 5 months, 836 members enrolled.

Conclusions: Using a digital connection to engage patients during a healthy pregnancy was widely embraced by clinicians and patients. Selecting content to integrate into MyChart Care Companion was time-consuming, but necessary to ensure education was relevant, engaging, and not overwhelming.

Next Steps: Evaluate impact of MyChart Care Companion on patient call volume. Expand MyChart Care Companion to at-risk pregnant patients and explore use with those who have chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart failure and epilepsy.

The United States is home to a large population of migrants and refugees who face a number of stressors including low levels of English proficiency, difficulties with employment, and discrimination. These stressors along with cultural and linguistic barriers when seeking health information and navigating the healthcare system in a new country contribute to overall low health literacy levels in most migrant communities. While health literacy has been a major topic of research, less is known about how countries are responding to the health literacy needs of migrant populations. We sought to address this by conducting a scoping study in which we systematically identified and analyzed existing research centered specifically on interventions that aim to promote health literacy among migrants. Using six academic databases that included both education-focused and public health databases, we searched for articles using synonyms for “migrant”, “health literacy”, and “intervention”. Our initial search yielded 726 articles. After removing duplicates and reviewing the articles based on a set of inclusion criteria, we found that 54 articles met the eligibility criteria. We classified the articles based on country, year, target group, health topics addressed, education approach, policies, partnerships, study designs, and evaluations. We further coded based on whether the studies reported evidence of sociolinguistic and pedagogical factors, including language proficiency, native language use, adult literacy theories, and language learning theories. Along with a public health perspective, our study involves the perspectives of applied linguistics and adult education. Our findings will be presented in the poster, including a map of where these interventions are occurring most often, the sociolinguistic realities that are reported in studies and how they influence the interventions, and how different pedagogical methods such as formal, informal, and non-formal learning are incorporated.

This poster will highlight the development of the Crystal Clear Pharmacy Mark and what literacy-friendly practices it is built upon. The Crystal Clear Mark is an innovative approach to recognize pharmacies incorporating literacy-friendly practices into their organizational structure. The program respects the critical role pharmacies play in helping patients understand and take action to improve their health. This symposium will look at the challenges facing pharmacists as they work on organizational changes and how the advocacy and support of the Irish Pharmacy Union has helped to address some of these challenges. A recent formative evaluation of the Crystal Clear program will also be used to highlight what practices Crystal Clear pharmacies use, including the most common and innovative practices, as well as the value pharmacists place on the process.