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Health literacy is the ability to access, assess and use health information.
Health Libraries Group
Health and digital literacy: addressing inequalities
Ruth Carlyle describes the opportunity to address health literacy inequalities, the roles librarians and information professionals can play and a new partnership led by Health Education England and CILIP.
IBRARIANS and information professionals work with information that relates to health and wellbeing, even if they
are not based in health libraries. This is part of our professional role in changing lives through quality information, services and expertise. Health literacy is the ability to access,
assess and use health information. It is defined by the World Health Organisation as ‘the personal characteristics and social resources needed for individuals and communities to access, understand, appraise and use information and services to make decisions about health’1
. The ‘social resources’ are
important, as it is not just about individual skills, but the way in which services and resources are structured and the opportunities that individuals and communities have to use them. In the UK, 43 per cent adults aged 16-65 struggle to understand and use text-based health information; when numbers are added, this rises to a shocking 61 per cent adults finding it difficult to use health information2
.
Using data to address inequalities Health Education England commissioned the University of Southampton to develop the geodata that shows the borough-level range of likely health literacy levels, based on literacy and numeracy3
. The figures
show variation in health literacy levels that reflect underlying inequalities. The national range is from 46.11 per cent struggling with words and numbers- based health information in South Cambridgeshire to 81.75 per cent in struggling in Newham, East London. By sharing these data with colleagues, librarians and information professionals can identify localities in which interventions to address low health literacy can have most impact.
April-May 2022
Health and Digital Literacy Partnership
To help address this issue and empower patients, families and carers, Health Education England’s national NHS knowledge and library services team is working with CILIP to co-lead a partnership to improve health and digital literacy at a local level4
.
With Libraries Connected and Arts Council England, the partners are working together to develop a sustainable approach to improve health literacy. Local pilot partnerships will assess how existing information services can embed activities that equip members of the public with the skills that they will need to access, assess and use health information in an increasingly digital environment. Health Education England has funded an initial eight pilot projects to test out different ways in which this can be achieved, while CILIP is managing and co-ordinating the pilot programme nationally5
.
“If we are to tackle health inequalities, it is crucial that communities come together to improve levels of health and digital literacy. And there are no organisations better placed to do this than local public and health libraries right in the heart of the communities they know and understand.” – Sue Lacey Bryant, National Lead NHS knowledge and library services.
How can librarians and information
professionals make a difference? Librarians and information professionals across sectors already support their users to develop digital skills and information literacy. Digital skills are an increasingly important aspect of health literacy, as more appointments with health professionals need to be booked online and consultations are often held online. Additionally, many health charities have been impacted by a significant drop in
Ruth Carlyle PhD is Head of NHS Knowledge and Library Services, across the Midlands, East and North.
fundraising income through the pandemic and therefore have needed to cut print budgets and produce information online only. Adding health examples into existing interventions for digital skills and information literacy helps to increase awareness and skills for health and digital literacy. To increase their own skills and
confidence with health literacy, library and information services staff can complete free e-learning developed by NHS Education for Scotland and Health Education England6
. Referring users to established information resources in the NHS (and the Health Service Executive in the Republic of Ireland) also improves health information and health service access for the public7
. IP
References 1 World Health Organization, European Health Information Gateway
https://gateway.euro.who.int/en/ themes/health-literacy/#
2 Gillian Rowlands, Joanne Protheroe, John Winkley, Marty Richardson, Paul T Seed and Rima Rudd, A mismatch between population health literacy and the complexity of health information: an observational study. British Journal of General Practice 2015; 65 (635): e379-e386. DOI: https://doi. org/10.3399/bjgp15X685285
3 Health Literacy Geodata
http://healthliteracy.geodata.uk/
4 Health and Digital Literacy Partnership https://
library.hee.nhs.uk/patient-information/working-with-partners- to-increase-skills-of-the-public
5 Health and Digital Literacy pilot sites https://library.
hee.nhs.uk/health-and-digital-literacy-pilot-sites
6 Health Literacy e-learning
www.e-lfh.org.uk/pro- grammes/healthliteracy/
7 Information for the public
https://library.nhs.uk/public/ INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 33
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