Health Literacy

Empowering patients to have greater agency in, and control over health decisions.

A patient’s health literacy is their ability to read, understand, and use health care information to make informed decisions and modify behaviours that affect their personal healthcare needs. Promoting health literacy creates a more collaborative care environment, one that empowers patients to have greater agency in, and control over, their own care decisions.

CCMI’s Health Literacy offerings emphasize the importance of being able to support patients and communicate clearly so that patients and family members can truly participate in care. Participants will gain an understanding of health literacy concepts and learn practical skills for engaging with patients to ensure clear and effective communication.

Services

Health Literacy Face to Face Overview Workshop or Webinar

30-90 minutes

Appropriate for wide range of professionals and peer helpers.

This overview provides training in the concept of health literacy and an introduction to teach-back for understanding.

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Health Literacy Workshop or Webinar Package for Front-Line Clinicians:

  half-day (3.5 hours)

  Appropriate for front-line clinicians

This workshop provides training in fundamental concepts from the health literacy universal precautions and teaches core skills including how to use resources, plain language, teach-back, and Ask-Tell-Ask. It can also be adapted into a package that may include webinars, online modules, and homework assignments.

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Health Literacy Workshop or Webinar Package for Clinical Educators
and Health Literacy Leads:

  One day

  Appropriate for clinical educators and health literacy leads who have opportunities to assess and enhance their organization’s health literacy programs at a system level. Also appropriate for people who design patient education material, or have input in its design, review, or promotion.

This workshop provides training in fundamental concepts from the health literacy universal precautions and includes content on plain language and design (PEMAT), health literacy and medication adherence. Learners will complete a project that will engage them in assessment and action to improve health literacy at organizational and community levels. They will also be taught cores skills including how to use resources, plain language, teach-back, and Ask-Tell-Ask.

Speak to us about how this workshop can be customized for virtual delivery based on your needs.

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Health Literacy Trainer Course

  Two days

  Appropriate for clinical educators

This workshop will prepare educators to deliver the Health Literacy Overview, the half-day Workshop for Front-Line Clinicians and the one day Workshop for Clinical Educators and Health Literacy Leads.

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Resources

BRAIN APP

The BRAIN (Benefits, Risks, Alternatives, Intuition, Next Steps) app is based on our popular worksheet. The app and worksheet both are designed to help you to think about the Benefits, Risks, and Alternatives to a decision. Then they ask you what your gut or intuition says and it help you to clarify the next steps that make sense to you.

The app is available for apple devices in the apple app store by searching CCMI BRAIN or going here

and for android devices in the google play store by searching CCMI BRAIN or going here

Teach Back Guide

Teach Back is an evidence-based technique to confirm that a message has been understood. It has been shown to help people improve blood sugar control and avoid readmission in heart failure, and to decrease time for people taking a blood-thinning medication to get the medication dose right. Download our Teach Back Guide.

Videos

Teach-Back for Understanding

In this video Connie Davis explains how to use teach-back, a method to check that information has been communicated clearly. To download the handout, visit the handouts section on this page.

Health Literacy Umbrella

CCMI worked with health care teams in BC to develop this video, describing the “Health Literacy Umbrella”:

Worksheets

Health and Wellness Advertising Claims Assessment Worksheet

One of the practical tools that we have partnered to develop is a worksheet for assessing health and wellness advertisements.

Click here to download: Health and Wellness Advertising Claims: So, Is it Truthful?

This tool was developed collaboratively with input from the public and professionals. We thank everyone who reviewed drafts and provided valuable feedback, including:

  • Plain Language Group of the South Riverdale Community Health Centre, Toronto, ON

The working group provided oversight and leadership:

  • Bernie Garrett, Associate Professor, UBC School of Nursing, Vancouver, BC
  • Elsie Petch, MHSc, Health Literacy Consultant, Toronto, ON
  • Lea Elcombe, Facilitator of the Plain Language Group of the South Riverdale Community Health Centre, Toronto, ON
  • Alifa Khan, Patient Advocate, Orangeville, ON
  • Denielle Wiebe, Graphic Designer, CCMI, Quesnel, BC
  • Connie Davis, Development Project Lead, CCMI, Hope BC

BRAIN Decision Making Worksheet

One of the practical tools that we have developed is the BRAIN Decision Making Worksheet, adapted with permission from the International Childbirth Association.

Download the Brain Decision Making Worksheet here:
BRAIN Decision Making Worksheet (Health) 
BRAIN Decision Making Worksheet (General)