Page 89 - Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary

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

HeALtH LiteRACY, eHeALtH, AnD CoMMUniCAtion

Dullabh and June Eichner. The goal of the guide is to assist developers,
the people who are creating new software programs, to become more
aware of and more knowledgeable about health literacy issues. For pur-
chasers, the guide includes a checklist of things they should look for when
evaluating whether to buy a particular HIT product.
The project first reviewed the literature, both the IT and HIT literature,
to find out what was known about ways to develop health information
technology so that it would be accessible to limited-literacy audiences.
Project staff also looked at various products and websites such as MiVIA.
Finally, project staff held discussions with individuals who develop and
purchase HIT as well as with researchers involved in the evaluation of
HIT for limited literacy populations.
Not surprisingly, the literature on developing accessible health infor-
mation technology for limited-literacy audiences is scanty; very little
has been published about the best way to proceed. As discussed in this
workshop, there may not be a single “best” way; instead systems should
be adapted to a particular community or population.
AHRQ views health information technology as including personal
health records, electronic health records, and health information exchange.
The guide covers a number of different types of technology that can be
used to convey health information to various audiences, including Inter-
net websites, touch screen kiosks, personal wireless devices (e.g., cell
phones, BlackBerrys, and personal digital assistants or PDAs), and home
monitoring devices.
The guide promotes the use of universal basic design principles. First,
use a simple structure with clean looks that highlight important elements.
Second, build well, taking advantage of the technology inherent in the
application in order to give consumers choices. Finally, for Internet sites,
it is important to use HTML rather than other formats because HTML is
more accessible to consumers.
An example of a simple design is shown in Figure 5-1. This design,
which is still in testing, is a version of an update to prevention information
in healthfinder.gov, which has been attempting to find which approaches
are more responsive to and work best for consumers. As can be seen, the
design contains only five headings of two or three words each: (1) Eat
Healthy, (2) Get Active, (3) Get Screened, (4) Quit Smoking, and (5) Watch
Your Weight. Each of the subsequent Web pages takes a similarly clean
approach, presenting quite a bit of information but in a clear, simple, and
understandable way.
Much of the guide adheres to current guidelines for print materials.
2

2 The guide is called Accessible Health information technology (it) for Populations with Limited
Literacy: A Guide for Deelopers and Purchasers of Health it. It is available on AHRQ’s National

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