About

Recent Comments

My Blog Roll

« Everyone's New York | Main | Customer Service »

11 February 2007

Literacies and Our Priorities

In this era of the public taking an active role in their health, people turn to consumer health information to help them make decisions about their health care.  With millions of people making decisions about their health based on the information they find - how they find and use that information becomes very important to America's state of health and health care. 

This week I had the opportunity to introduce a consumer health website - MedlinePlus - to students in a Masters of Public Health program  (the course was health literacy and the class was health information online).  The discussion began with some statistics about the number of Americans online and how they look for health information and progressed to an interesting discussion about the difficulties of making information accessbile to a wide variety of people.   Approximately 8 million Americans search for health information online everyday and more than half of them make decisions based on what they find online.  That makes loooking for information online as popular as paying bills and reading blogs.  But here is where it gets interesting - most of the health information online is clinically questionable and/or incomplete (from a 2001 JAMA article).   Health Literacy is an important and complex issue and the issues of computer/internet literacy add another dimension to finding and using health information online.   Beyond the basic issues of using a mouse and opening software, there are added issues of knowing how to navigate a website and evaluate the source of online information for reliability and accuracy. 

The issues of reliability and literacy of health information are important, so why do we spend more media time checking the accuracy of the latest reported celebrity pregnancy than on the reliability of the information that influences many decisions in a $2 trillon industry?

02:00 PM in Health Care, Libraries |

Comments

Will B

Because health care is booooooring. And celebrity pregnancies are facinating. Yep, I said it.

Posted by: Will B | 11 February 2007 at 03:43 PM

Will B

Seriously: one thing that may contribute is that there are topics that one doesn't want accurate information about. Consider two cases: an elderly person who doesn't want to visit a doctor, and a guy who just bought a plasma TV.

The last thing that either person wants is to learn that s/he is wrong about the choice. And research is most likely to induce doubt, and possibly even the conviction that one made a mistake in the past.

There's a name for the (common and powerful) psychological resistance to learning that you are wrong. I can't remember it, and I can't construct a search that finds it.

Posted by: Will B | 11 February 2007 at 03:54 PM

ss

A useful resource is the book "Advancing health literacy: A framework for understanding and action"

Posted by: ss | 11 February 2007 at 04:27 PM

Theodora A. Bakker

Funny you should mention "Advancing Health Literacy" - that is the textbook for the class, and the first author is the course professor. It is a great book for the topic of health Literacy and chapter 6 was the basis for framing my thoughts of how my introduction of a comsumer health website can fit into the broader discussion of health literacy.

Posted by: Theodora A. Bakker | 11 February 2007 at 10:33 PM

collection

air jordan xx3 sale

Posted by: collection | 29 August 2013 at 01:41 PM

Gucci 1973 Medium Top Handle Bag 251813 Red

GUCCI TECHNO HORSEBIT MEDIUM HOBO 240261 BLACK
GUCCI LARGE MESSENGER BAG WITH EMBOSSED TRADEMARK 258651 IN CAME
Gucci GG Twins Medium Hobo 232962 In Beige/Camel Brown
Gucci G Wave Large Toto Bag 232944 Black
gucci belt with square horsebit buckle 245116 in dark brown
Gucci-Shoulder-240804-Leather-Apricot
Gucci Medium Messenger Bag With Clip Closure 201732 In Wine
GUCCI MEDIUM HOBO BAG 232968 CORAL
gucci 1973 medium shoulder bag 251809 red
Gucci Handmade Medium Shoulder Bag 263954 In Black
Gucci GG Running Large Tote 247179 Light Brown
gucci medium hobo bag 232968 dark brown
GUCCI BELT BAG 28566R IN BLACK
gucci guccissima leather long wallet brown
gucci long wallet with interlocking g detail 233144 in black
Gucci Shoulder Bags 201446-Black
gucci secret medium hobo 223949 sand /dark brown
Gucci 1973 Small Shoulder Bag 251821 in Black
Gucci Medium Messenger Bag 233329 in Brown
gucci gg running medium tote 247183 beige /light brown
Gucci Baseball Hat with Wed 200035 in Beige/Brown
Gucci Sey Medium Boston Bag 223974 in Beige/Black
Gucci New Bamboo Medium Top Handle Bag 254884 In Military Green
gucci medium messenger bag 233052 in military green
GUCCI SEY LARGE TOTE 211943 BEIGE /BROWN
GUCCI-SHOULDER-240803-LEATHER-LIGHT-BLU
GUCCI CARD CASE WITH METAL BAR 233114 IN DARK BROWN
Gucci Baseball Hat With Web Beige
Gucci Techno Horsebit Medium Hobo 240261 Bordeaux
Gucci 1973 Medium Top Handle Bag 251813 Red

Posted by: Gucci 1973 Medium Top Handle Bag 251813 Red | 29 August 2013 at 03:31 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.