Levels of health literacy (Don Nutbeam (2000)
This classification is a typology of 3 levels of health literacy that recognises the role of basic reading, writing and numeracy for health, but moves beyond this to include interactive and critical abilities.
These are labelled and described as:
- Functional health literacy:
which are the basic skills of reading, writing and numeracy necessary to function effectively in a health context.
- Interactive health literacy:
which refers to more advanced cognitive literacy skills that with social skills, can be used to actively participate in everyday situations, extract information and derive meaning from different forms of communication, and apply this to changing circumstances.
- Critical health literacy:
is the ability to critically analyse information and use this to exert greater control over life events and situations.
People need maintenance and upgrades even more than machines do.
Retraining is maintenance.
Training is an upgrade.
Development is the next generation model.
Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions. Health literacy can help us prevent health problems and protect our health, as well as better manage those problems and unexpected situations that happen.
The Health Literacy Academy at the Irish CT&ID Center is broadly inclusive of experts and professionals promoting health literacy in many different contexts.
ICTIDC Health Literacy Courses:
- Chronic Disease Health Literacy
- Child Family Health Literacy
- Environmental Health Literacy
- Health Literacy and Behavioral Change
- Health Literacy and Occupational Therapy
- Health Literacy and Primary Care
- Health Literacy and Sustainable Development
- Health Literacy Health Equity
- Health Literacy in Market Research
- Health Literacy in Schools
- Health Literacy Patient Safety
- Health Literacy Policy and Advocacy
- Health Literacy Research
- Health Literacy Social Costs
- Improving Health Literacy Using Information Technology I-HeaLIT
- International Health Literacy and Nursing
- Librarians Advancing Health Literacy
- Teaching Health Literacy to Health Professionals
- Mental Health Literacy
- Nutrition Health Literacy
- Migrant Health Literacy
- Health Literacy Explorers