Health Literacy Studies: Curricula

Health Literacy Curricula

This section contains information about several types of curricula. We offer and/or make reference to curricula for adult education programs as well as for medical or public health graduate courses.

We ask that you give us feedback if you have used these materials for teaching or for program planning.

Professional Development for Adult Educators

Health Literacy Study Circles⁺, Skills for Health Care Access and Navigation: The goal of this 15-hour study circle⁺ is to prepare participants to help their students develop basic skills needed for accessing health-related services and for navigating health care systems. These skills include filling out forms, reading signs, and interpreting rights and responsibilities.

Health Literacy Study Circles⁺, Skills for Chronic Disease Management: The goal of this 15-hour study circle⁺ is to prepare participants to help their students develop basic skills needed for chronic disease management. These skills include reading medicine labels, following directions, and measuring dosages correctly; using measurement tools to monitor health; monitoring symptoms and talking to health care professionals; and making critical decisions about health care.

Health Literacy Study Circles⁺, Skills for Disease Prevention and Screening: (Coming soon!) The goal of this 15-hour study circle+ is to prepare participants to help their students develop basic skills needed for preventing and screening for diseases. These skills include reading and interpreting risk communication materials; reading informed consent forms; understanding health information in the media; filling out forms; and discussing symptoms with a medical professional and making critical decisions about health care.

Health Literacy in Adult Basic Education: Designing Lessons, Units, and Evaluation Plans for an Integrated Curriculum. This guide is designed to help adult educators develop health literacy units, lessons, and evaluation plans. It provides an overview of health literacy skills, offers templates for planning, and links to sample lessons from each of the Study Circle⁺ Guides. To look at the sample lessons, click on the following:

Program Guides for Health Literacy Inititatives

Health Literacy Public Health Forums: Partners for Action
This guide was designed to assist public health professionals and members of departments of public health, to provide a state or local Health Literacy Forum and thereby raise awareness about health literacy and links to health outcomes within a state, county, or city. This forum provides a vehicle for raising awareness and for sharing ideas across sectors to build an action plan.

The authors encourage people, through the process outlined in this guide, to forge partnerships with the adult education sector and the library associations in your area as well as with a broad range of public health medical, dental, and nursing practitioners to initiate health literacy action.The guide includes materials needed for planning and implementing a Health Literacy Forum.

The Health Literacy Environment of Hospitals and Health Centers - Partners for Action: Making Your Healthcare Facility Literacy-Friendly This guide and the review tools found within it offer an approach for analyzing literacy-related barriers to healthcare access and navigation. We designed this guide to assist chief executive officers, presidents, program directors, administrators, and healthcare workers at hospitals or health centers to consider thee health literacy environment of their healthcare facilities and to analyze ways to reduce demands, to better serve their patients and staff and ultimately to increase revenue.