Health Literacy
Everyone deserves health information and services that are clear and easy to use—so they can live long, healthy lives. But sometimes, health information is hard to access and understand. That’s where health literacy comes in.
By strengthening health literacy, audiologists and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) support person-centered care and better health outcomes.
On this page:
- What Is Health Literacy?
- What Factors Affect Health Literacy?
- Why is Health Literacy Important?
- How Can Audiologists and SLPs Support Health Literacy?
- Health Literacy Resources and Tools
What Is Health Literacy?
Health literacy is the ability to find, understand, and use reliable health information and services to make well-informed decisions about one’s health.
Healthy People 2030 describes health literacy as a shared responsibility, recognizing that it is not just about an individual’s knowledge and skills: It is also about how organizations share information and provide services. The Healthy People 2030 initiative focuses on two types of health literacy to reduce disparities and improve outcomes for all people:
- Personal health literacy is an individual’s ability to find, understand, and use health information and services to make informed decisions for themselves and others.
- Organizational health literacy is how effectively and equitably organizations enable people to find, understand, and use health information and services to make informed health decisions for themselves and others.
- The National Academy of Medicine outlines 10 attributes of health-literate organizations.
- The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recommends that organizations follow health literacy universal precautions.
Another important part of health literacy is digital health literacy—the ability to find, understand, evaluate, and use online and other electronic health information. This is especially important as more people rely on technology and digital tools to help manage their health (Ban et al., 2024).
Skills That Support Health Literacy
Health literacy involves a wide range of skills:
- asking questions and expressing needs
- evaluating if health information is trustworthy
- interpreting charts, symbols, and diagrams
- navigating health care systems and interacting with professionals
- reading, writing, and using numbers
- thinking critically about risks and benefits
- understanding information and following instructions
- using computers, apps, wearable technologies, and patient portals
What Factors Affect Health Literacy?
Health literacy is dynamic. It can change depending on the situation—such as a person’s energy level, their emotions, or the supports that a particular health care setting makes available.
Factors that affect health literacy also include the following:
- communication differences or disorders (Piao et al., 2023; Turnbull et al., 2023)
- delivery of health information or services (e.g., access, format, complexity, language)
- demographics (e.g., age, education, gender, race, socioeconomic status)
- general literacy and math skills
- language(s) used
- mental and physical health (e.g., fear, stress, illness, pain, medication effects)
- personal experiences, beliefs, and trust in health care
- social determinants of health
Health literacy challenges can affect everyone—especially when health information is complex, is unfamiliar, or does not match a person’s needs.
Why is Health Literacy Important?
Health literacy helps people stay healthy, prevent disease, use health care services, and stay safe. It shapes the everyday health decisions we make:
- what health habits are best for us
- when and where to seek care
- how to take medications
- how to follow treatment plans and public health guidance
- what to do in emergencies
Health literacy also equips people to ask questions, give informed consent, and actively participate in their health care decisions. Such empowerment fosters autonomy, reduces risks, and builds trust between patients, providers, and health systems.
When people have limited health literacy, it can negatively impact health outcomes and lessen the effectiveness of health care and public health systems. Strengthening both personal and organizational health literacy is crucial for reducing disparities, improving communication and healthcare utilization, and promoting health equity (Lopez et al., 2022).
How Can Audiologists and SLPs Support Health Literacy?
Audiologists and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have the knowledge and skills to strengthen both personal and organizational health literacy. They make sure their own materials and services are clear, easy to use, and tailored to each person’s needs. Some audiologists and SLPs also conduct research on the connection between communication disorders and health literacy.
Audiologists and SLPs can directly support an individual’s ability to find, understand, and effectively use health information and services to make informed decisions. They may play the following roles:
- Adapting materials like forms, signs, health instructions, test results, and emergency plans into accessible formats.
- Empowering critical thinking and self-advocacy when navigating health information and systems (e.g., appointments, accommodations, online tools, insurance).
- Encouraging prevention, screening, and early detection of communication or swallowing problems and related health conditions.
- Making health information relevant to reflect each person’s unique needs and experiences.
- Supporting clear understanding of medical terms, care plans, medications, and equipment using varied communication strategies.
- Teaching about communication tools and supports that help people ask questions, express concerns, and take active roles in their own care.
- Identifying barriers to sharing, understanding, and using health information through informal or formal assessments.
See the Center for Health Care Strategies’ fact sheet on Identifying Limited Health Literacy and the Health Literacy Resources and Tools page for more information on informal and formal health literacy assessment. Note that most formal tools are not designed for people with communication disorders and focus mainly on print health literacy (Dijkman et al., 2024).
Audiologists and speech-language pathologists can help organizations build health literacy into system-wide policies, staff trainings, and communication practices by doing the following:
- Advocating for communication access and health literacy supports in everyday workflows and budgets—for example, communication aids and services, interpreters, flexible appointment options, and plain language policies.
- Consulting with administrators and clinical leaders on implementing effective communication practices and accommodations to meet national standards and laws (e.g., Joint Commission, Healthy People 2030, Americans with Disabilities Act).
- Creating or adapting system-wide communication materials—such as signs, intake and consent forms, handouts, videos, and digital tools—so they are clear, easy to understand, and accessible to everyone.
- Partnering with health educators, interpreters, translators, and consumers to set standard communication practices that support understanding for all (e.g., multiple languages and modalities, alternative formats).
- Promoting system-wide public health initiatives like early intervention, hearing conservation, vocal hygiene, brain injury awareness, and dementia screening.
- Training frontline staff and care teams on communication disabilities, screenings, accessible communication, accommodations, and the use of health literacy strategies.
Audiologists and SLPs support health literacy by making sure their own communication and materials are clear, accessible, and person-centered. Health literacy starts with knowing and involving your audience so that the information you create and share is easy to understand, relevant, and practical to use.
Here are some basic principles for communicating health information.
Use plain language in all forms of communication to help people understand “need-to-know” information quickly.
- Avoid jargon, acronyms, and technical terms (or define them clearly).
- Begin with the most important message, then build on the information.
- Give clear, easy steps and concrete examples.
- Keep numbers simple—without the need for math.
- Use a friendly, conversational tone.
- Use active voice and personal pronouns (“you” and “we”).
- Use short, familiar words and simple sentences.
Add visuals and provide alternative formats to improve accessibility and enhance understanding.
- Include images, icons, symbols, or diagrams that are relevant to the message.
- Modify signage, forms, tools, and digital media to meet language and communication needs.
- Offer materials in Braille, large-print, or digital formats.
- Support data with graphs and charts.
- Use audio, video, or other interactive tools to explain complex topics and key points.
Communicate in ways that are relevant to health needs and personal situations.
- Create materials and messaging that reflect the communities you work with—including familiar visuals, examples, formats, and preferred languages.
- Respect cultural norms, health beliefs, and values.
- Use interpreters, transliterators, translators, or multilingual providers when needed.
- Use professionally translated materials.
Enhance readability with language level, layout, and accessible design.
- Break up long text with bullet points, short paragraphs, and clear headings.
- Choose large, easy-to-read fonts (12+ point); keep size and style consistent.
- Emphasize key points with bold font (avoid all caps or italics).
- Keep the design simple and clean—with lots of white space.
- Match the reading level to your audience’s literacy level, cognitive-communication skills, and preferred language.
- Test materials with real users. Formal tools can help, but not all of them evaluate accessibility, design, visuals, cultural responsiveness, or usefulness.
- Use high contrast (e.g., dark text on light background).
See the Center for Health Care Strategies’ fact sheet on Improving Written Communication to Promote Health Literacy for more guidance.
Use teach-back or “show-me” and check-back methods to support understanding and follow-through.
This helps people avoid confusion when learning to use a device, take medicine, follow a treatment plan, or understand a new diagnosis.
- Ask the person to repeat the information in their own words or show you what they need to do (instead of just asking, “Do you understand?”).
- Encourage questions, and make it comfortable for people to ask for clarification or help.
- If they do not understand or if they do the action incorrectly, try again using a different approach—slow down, break it into smaller parts, rephrase, use another format, or demonstrate through role play.
- Involve family or care partners if the person agrees.
- Take responsibility for clear communication by starting with “I wanted to make sure that I explained this clearly.”
By embedding health literacy in audiology and speech-language pathology services, we can personalize care, strengthen access, and empower individuals: This leads to better outcomes for everyone.
Health Literacy Resources and Tools
For more resources and tools to support health literacy, visit Health Literacy Resources and Tools.
