Health Literacy

Did you know?

Health literacy is the primary predictor of a person's health status?

  • Almost half of all adults in a national study reported that they have difficulty reading and processing everyday health information? This percentage is even higher (65%) among younger people, ages 16 to 24.
  • Literacy levels in general are three to five grades below the highest grade of school completed?
  • Low health literacy often leads to unnecessary, and costly, trips to the emergency room?

While almost half of the population has trouble with routine health information, this is an even greater challenge for those with low literacy skills in general.  Parents of children in Head Start often face this challenge, and they may lack the confidence to make the most appropriate health care decisions for themselves and their children.   Only 3 percent of parents participating in KHSA health literacy training report that they have a health book in their homes.  Many get health information from family or friends or from TV.  And, 45 percent of families participating in a pilot project in public health settings reported that the hospital emergency room was their primary source of care.

Increasing the health literacy of parents with young children is a major priority for KHSA.  Here's what we've done in the past five years:

  • KHSA was the first state Head Start association to make a nationally-recognized health literacy training program available to all our families. The Health Care Institute (HCI) was developed by the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) and Johnson and Johnson to address this national problem. 
  • Through a partnership with UCLA, Kansas Head Start programs have provided health literacy training to over 3,600 families, with the following significant results:  
    • 86% have continued using the book ("What To Do When Your Child Gets Sick" by Gloria Mayer, R.N. and Ann Kuklierus, R.N.) after participating in training
    • 82% report increased confidence in their ability to take care of their children's illnesses and injuries
    • 41% fewer parents went to the doctor or clinic and 29% less went to the emergency room first when their child was sick.
    • Parents lost an average of 24% fewer work days, and children, 18% fewer school days after parents participated in the training and followup coaching. 
  • KHSA has now expanded its health literacy work to partners in public health and the faith community through grants from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, with matching funds from the Kansas Health Policy Authority. 
    • KHSA has developed its own practitioner training to help presenters understand health literacy and build their skills in working with low-literacy adults. We also have created a unique parent training curriculum, based on the "What to Do When Your Child Gets Sick" book, designed to teach parents in one-on-one or small group settings. Both curricula were developed by a team including an adult literacy expert, parent educator and pediatric R.N.
    • Initially, the new curricula were piloted in five public health settings across Kansas. The evaluation of that pilot can be viewed here.
    • Currently, KHSA is working with the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved (KAMU) with 10 safety net clinics across the state, and with the Parish Nurse Network to reach out to congregations. We expect to train 2,600 parents of young children in 2009 and 2010.
    • KHSA has also partnered with Children's Mercy Family Health Partners, one of the Kansas Medicaid/HealthWave contractors, to train their staff in working with parents of young children.

KHSA plans to expand its partnerships over the next few years to reach out to all families with young children in our state, focusing first on those enrolled in Medicaid and HealthWave, but ultimately to all families through schools, physicians' offices and other health providers.  We have learned that all parents appreciate and use the information provided in the book, but that it is most effective when paired with effective education and follow up by practitioners.  For more information, please contact Mary Baskett, Executive Director of KHSA, at mbaskett@ksheadstart.org.