Measuring health literacy for Healthy People 2010: why and how?
Mary Jo Deering, PhD, U,S Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 200 Independence Avenue SW Room 738G, Washington, DC 20201, 2022602652, mdeering@osophs.dhhs.gov Objective 11-2 in Healthy People 2010 is to “Improve the health literacy of persons with inadequate or marginal literacy skills.” Health literacy is recognized as an essential skill not only for managing disease but also for preventing it and for navigating the health system to ensure access to quality care. The role of health literacy in achieving national health promotion and disease prevention goals and objectives will be discussed. At present, there is no national baseline data on levels of health literacy, or even agreed upon definitions of what constitutes health literacy. The speaker will also describe the methodological and policy issues related to collaborative work of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education to integrate soun
