Improving Health Literacy through Governance Tools

Abstract

Health literacy involves more than the absence of reading skill. Additional dimensions include the comprehension and interpretation of information in order to make informed health decisions. We suggest that health care service providers must engage their patient population to improve their level of personal responsibility through the systematic process of selection, implementation, and critical evaluation of acknowledged tools of governance. To successfully increase health literacy in this complex and dynamic environment, this solution proposes an intensive strategy through the collective use of governance tools across multiple participants that include the health care sector, political representation, regulatory representatives, health insurance providers, Non-Government Organizations, patients, and the education system. We offer a detailed example of governance methods applied to healthcare and summarize these recommendations in a program logic model that provides a roadmap of planned events leading to problem resolution over time. The U.S. National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy using a multi-sectoral approach has been a model for other nations.