Guidance on Health Literacy Policy in Conjunction with Health Professionals

Problem Statement

Approximately one-third of the adults in the United States are affected by low health literacy most of them coming from the ethnic and racial minority populations whose social, economic status is low (Kutner et al., 2006). Health disparities have also been as a result of this disproportionate in the population. Something that is very unfortunate is that the even professionals among the health industry lack awareness and understanding of these issues that are health-related (Kelly & Haidet, 2007) with the skills also that are needed in addressing the low health literacy.

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The role of health education has long been discovered by the American Public Health Association (APHA) in the process of health improvement through advocating and education. The policy statement 20109 addressed on the importance of health behaviors, system, and education as a way to confront literacy in health whereas 20083 identified the importance of interprofessional education to promote an improvement in the outcomes of patient-centered health. These two policies don't focus on addressing the health education to professionals but rather emphasize on the health work development in the framework of the health education (APHA, 2011). Improving and increasing health education on professionals has thus been a significant priority in the United States.

Purpose

This sort of qualitative case study aims to traverse Health literacy and Professional perception of healthcare as well as the cultural awareness. As the population of the nation is increasingly becoming diverse, there will be an increasing challenge to the health care professionals to understand these concepts. There is now evidence of principles which are considered the base of providing the services which are preventive. The communication of the services needs sensitivity in cultural diversity and health literacy. At the moment, the use of the service varies both in cost and the understanding of the values of health. Professionals of health need to explain the values via cultural lenses and health literacy to increase the likelihood of patients getting to know the benefits of its understanding.

Significance

The significance of this study was to create a simultaneous balance between the education of the health professions and the health literacy among them together with the cultural differences which would mean that there would be competent providers of health having skills to reduce disparities in the healthcare as they will be patient-centered. There is a likelihood of an increase in the cultural differences and limited health literacy as a result of the increasing and expanding the older population. The urge is that the administration of Congress and Congress itself should address literacy in health in the process of implementing the reform on health legislation. This should also include the expansion of the linguistic information that is appropriate and the changes in the public health care systems in the process of improving people's ability to access the information and use it.

Background

1. According to Macabasco et al. (2011), health professionals should not lack the awareness of health literacy, and it is unfortunate they do.

2. American Public Health Association. (APHA) And Healthy People 2010 tells us that everyone is entitled to have the best health which means that everyone should be valued equally. Inequalities in places where people are born, grow, work, live and age should be addressed.

3. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (2011) says that improving and increasing education for professionals in health on health literacy should be a priority area in the United States

4. Also, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (2010 has stated that the United States National Action Plan has to set health literacy as a central feature.

5. Coleman & Apply, 2012 indicates that the majority of United States medical students aren't taught on health literacy

Framework

Following Brofenbrenner (1977), a model of social ecology for social sciences which focus on individuals are typically effected by engaging factors that are external to the social and physical environments. The environment is usually further divided into five parts which include: the intimate microsystem, mesosystem, a workplace ecosystem, the macro system, and a chronosystem. (Rootman, Gordon El-Bihbety, 2008).In Weiner et al. (2012) words, different strategies combine the intervention levels to address patient engagement and health literacy. The approach of convergence implies that when the interventions at different levels occur, they influence the outcome by reinforcing and changing patterns of interaction (Thompson, 1967). Training of communication among staff in the organization and providing incentives via the initiatives of policy would enhance motivation in the clinic as well as patient motivation which is usually aided by patient decision. Thus, this study's phenomenon will help in the understanding of different strategies used to address low health literacy which will be useful in coordinating behavior between parties whose outcome is affected.

Research Question(s)

The study sort to answer the following questions.To what extent has the interaction of policies and their implementation been effective in reducing literacy?

How can communication training focused on understanding underserved populations enhance patient comprehension and change health behavior?

Nature of the Study

The quality of this study will be a qualitative case study, and I will be analyzing it as a decision-making process for a better understanding of health literacy. Creswell (2013) explained how instrumental case studies are designed such that the researcher can ascertain rich, thick data on a decision-making process already experienced by the participants. A case study affords participants the ability to tell their stories and thus reveal to the researcher their perception of reality, which in turn sheds light on how and why the participant came to a decision (Baxter and Jack, 2008). Studies that seek to find the answer to a question of "why" or "how" are well suited for a case study research (Yin, 2014). In the analysis of how policy has an impact in the ability of professionals in healthcare, its outcome raises lots of questions about solutions which are best in building the literacy of patient health - this is whether the intervention focuses on the education of the patient, reduction of the system demands, training of health professionals or any combination will yield an improvement in the understanding of prevention of illness by patients, medication, diagnosis as well as instructions on taking care of their conditions of health. The benefits offered by a case study approach also include gaining an understanding of context and process while linking causes and outcomes (Flyvbjerg, 2011). Enhancement of interpersonal skills of health professionals will create an improvement in communication with patients that may result in the acquisition of healthcare services and social support; this includes an emphasis on a dialogue that is respectful.

Secondary Data Types and Sources of Information

Data collection in a qualitative case study in public administration and policy research most often uses a combination of methods including interview, observation, and analysis of internal and external documents (McNabb, 2008, p. 294). Data will be collected from healthcare providers via in-depth interviews. Providers are working in a primary care setting in the Canaries, Brooklyn will be asked to participate. Qualitative data will be assessed for themes using NVivo v. 9 to reveal the providers' perceptions of health literacy, who they feel is responsible for improving patient understanding, and how the health care system could better accommodate literacy issues. Interviewing allows researcher access to things that cannot be observed, such as thoughts or feelings; it enables a researcher to enter and view events and information from another are perspective (Patton, 2012, pp. 340-341). Observation enables the exploration of the subject as an outsider while recording events, behaviors, and impressions that can be used with interviews to paint a fuller picture of the case and to provide context for the interviews (McNabb, 2008, pp. 294-295). A document collection is a tool that provides information about things that cannot be observed and may reveal things that participants have forgotten or prefer not to reveal (Patton, 2012, pp. 293-295). Use of multiple methods of data collection enables triangulation of the data for a more accurate picture of events (McNabb, 2008). Themes and experiences obtained by this approach will answer the research questions: What are the perceptions of health literacy and culture literacy? To address this gap, the phenomenological study will seek the healthcare provider's perceptions of literacy and culture. Assessments of the quality of problem statements will be used in conjunction with interviews to develop an understanding of health professionals understanding of literacy.

Reference

American Public Health Association. APHA policy statement 2004-12: Support for community-based participatory research in public health. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; 2004. Available at: HYPERLINK "www.apha.org/advocacy/policy/policysearch/default.htm?id=1298." www.apha.org/advocacy/policy/policysearch/default.htm?id=1298. Accessed January 16, 2011.

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