The health information literacy research project.

Jean P Shipman,Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi,Carla J Funk

doi:10.3163/1536-5050.97.4.014

Abstract

This research studied hospital administrators' and hospital-based health care providers' (collectively, the target group) perceived value of consumer health information resources and of librarians' roles in promoting health information literacy in their institutions. A web-based needs survey was developed and administered to hospital administrators and health care providers. Multiple health information literacy curricula were developed. One was pilot-tested by nine hospital libraries in the United States and Canada. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to evaluate the curriculum and its impact on the target group. A majority of survey respondents believed that providing consumer health information resources was critically important to fulfilling their institutions' missions and that their hospitals could improve health information literacy by increasing awareness of its impact on patient care and by training staff to become more knowledgeable about health literacy barriers. The study showed that a librarian-taught health information literacy curriculum did raise awareness about the issue among the target group and increased both the use of National Library of Medicine consumer health resources and referrals to librarians for health information literacy support. It is hoped that many hospital administrators and health care providers will take the health information literacy curricula and recognize that librarians can educate about the topic and that providers will use related consumer health services and resources.

Highlights

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in its 2004 seminal report, Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion [1], nearly half of the adult population in the United States has difficulty accessing health information and services
The task force considered the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) definition of health literacy and the American Library Association’s (ALA’s) definition of information literacy to develop Medical Library Association (MLA)’s definition of ‘‘health information literacy’’ as ‘‘the set of abilities needed to recognize a health information need, identify likely information sources and use them to retrieve relevant information, assess the quality of the information and its applicability to a specific situation, and analyze, understand, and use the information to make good health decisions.’’ The work of the task force was pivotal in moving MLA forward [9]
Survey In Summer 2007, TAP Consulting was commissioned to design and conduct a national survey of hospital administrators and hospital-based health care providers to determine the target group’s: & perceived value of consumer health information resources and services and the librarians who provide them & knowledge of quality NLM, MLA, and other consumer health information resources & understanding and awareness of patient health information literacy needs & attitudes toward funding a consumer health library over a traditional health provider library in their institutions In addition to addressing these questions, the survey was designed to inform the project team, consisting of the project coordinator and two coprincipal investigators, as to what content should be included in the Health Information Literacy (HIL) Curriculum

Summary

Introduction

The IOM recognized that multiple factors contribute to the problem, including the complexity of the health care system and cultural and language barriers To address these problems, the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in its Healthy People 2010 document emphasized increasing the health literacy skills of the nation as a public health priority. AHIP, FMLA, was to expand MLA members’ roles in supporting health information literacy by encouraging them to deliver consumer health information as a means of addressing health literacy needs She focused on the value that health information adds in terms of improving patient outcomes, safety, and satisfaction and emphasized that librarians should be recognized as key partners in advancing health literacy in their institutions

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