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Health Literacy
- What is it?
- Health Literacy is the ability to find and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions.
- Why is it important?
- Because Health Literacy affects people's ability to
- Share personal information and fill out forms
- Keep appointments
- Understand instructions and take medications correctly
- Measure blood sugar levels
- Choose between health plans and providers
- Because Health Literacy affects people's ability to
- What can I do?
- Use plain language avoiding jargon and difficult words
- Limit information to 2 or 3 points stating the most important points
- Use visuals, pictures and images
- Ask questions to clarify (What? When? Where? How?)
- Keep it simple and clearly state the actions you want
- Give written instructions
based on a downloadable flyer from the Arizona Health Literacy Coalition