Page 38 - Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary

Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary

oveRvieW oF iSSUeS

Another questioner asked Rodgers, what happens when one is dealing
with multiple chronic conditions since people seem to be able to under-
stand only three concepts at any one time? Individuals need to be able to
do many things, not just three, both in terms of navigating technology and
in terms of self-management. Clinical professionals may identify specific
things that they think are most important for such individuals to know.
Conversely, those from the technological or navigational side might iden-
tify another set of skills. How can one deliver the right information at the
right time to the right person so that that person is doing the right thing?
Rodgers responded that AHCCCS is ready to learn from its benefi-
ciaries what works best for them and what does not work. The system
must be modular, and it must be engaging, interesting, and real-world rel-
evant to those using it. When one is working with Native Americans, for
example, the programs and the person delivering them must understand
the conditions (e.g., nutrition, daily life, etc.) in which that population
operates and what strategies they might be willing to employ.
The key to being able to make such an approach work is technology,
as technology is very forgiving and flexible, and it allows one to make
relatively inexpensive changes as conditions change. With technology
there is a great deal of flexibility, much more so than with the static pam-
phlet approach.
One questioner stated that quite a bit of research has been conducted
that is relevant to AHCCCS’s idea of delivering health information to
people in a kiosk environment—for example, on such things as where
the kiosks are located and whether people enjoy using them. A number
of studies have shown that, for reasons that may or may not apply to
Arizona’s plan, using kiosks generally does not work well.
Despite that, the questioner continued, what Rodgers describes
appears to be a promising approach, and she said that she is particularly
interested in the idea of focus groups and what individuals actually learn
from the e-learning programs. The National Library of Medicine has illus-
trative tutorials on its Medline Plus in both Spanish and English. These
are very popular with those with low health literacy and with those who
work with such populations. It would be interesting to see whether these
could be made even more effective if they were delivered, as AHCCCS
intends to do, by individuals who look or appear to be like those for
whom the tutorials are designed, although in the case of some of the inter-
active materials illustrations rather than live individuals are used.
Rodgers responded that with the technology AHCCCS uses, change
can be made relatively inexpensively. One does not need to reinvent
things, just to present the material differently. The innovation centers,
federally qualified health centers that have multiple and different types
of populations, will serve as the laboratory for testing to determine how

Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.