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Related Web Page Links

We are pleased to offer a variety of website links for research and practice. Over time, this list will grow. We would be delighted to hear from you about additions to this list or comments on the sites you visit. We have grouped resources by the following categories:

Literacy

Measures of Adult Literacy

Health Literacy

Health Literacy Publications

Literacy and the Web

Adult Education

Cultural Competency

Government / National Organizations

Easy-To-Read Health Sites (general and topic-specific)

Literacy

National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy
http://ncsall.gse.harvard.edu
This site is the homepage of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. The goal of NCSALL is to help the field of adult basic education define a comprehensive research agenda; to pursue basic and applied research under that agenda; to build partnerships between researchers and practitioners; and to disseminate research and best practices to practitioners, scholars, and policy makers. Please note access to various NCSALL publications, order forms, and downloads.

www.nifl.gov/
This site is the homepage of the National Institute for Literacy, an independent federal organization leading the national effort toward a fully literate nation in the 21st century. The site includes information about literacy, news, policy, publications, and programs.

www.plainlanguage.gov/
This site is the homepage of the Plain Language Action Network (National Partnership for Reinventing Government). This federal government sponsored web site offers information and tools for writing in plain language.

www.nald.ca
The site is the homepage of the National Adult Literacy Database (NALD). NALD offers a comprehensive, up-to-date, and easily accessible database of adult literacy programs, resources, services and activities across Canada. It also links with other services and databases in North America and overseas. (In English and French.)

www.abc-canada.org/
This site is the homepage of ABC CANADA, a joint initiative of business, labor, education, and government. Its mission is to support the development of an educated and adaptable workforce by fostering a lifelong learning culture. The site offers links to research, and publications.

http://nces.ed.gov/naal/
This site offers detailed information about the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, planned to follow the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey [NALS].

http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=89-552-M&CHROPG=1
This site offers a download of the International Adult Literacy Survey. The international comparative study offers insights prose literacy measures across 22 industrialized nations.

www.chcs.org/
This site offers fact sheets which cover important aspects of health literacy. The Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc prepared the fact sheets in 1997 and were revised in 2003.  They are: What is Health; Who Has Health Literacy Problems; Impact of Low Health Literacy Skills on Annual Health Care Expenditures; Health Literacy and Understanding Medical Information; Strategies to Assist Low-Literate Health Care Consumers; Preparing Patient Education Materials; Tools to Evaluate Patient Education Materials; Health Communication and Cultural Diversity; Resources for Health Literacy Information and Publications; and a Bibliography.

www.healthliteracymonth.com/
This site is part of a larger project called Health Literacy Month. It is put here to provide tools you can use to raise people's awareness about the importance of health literacy.All the articles on this site are written by health literacy advocates. Some are clinicians; some are adult educators. Others are consultants, researchers, and administrators.

www.sla.purdue.edu/healthcomm/ 
The primary goal of HealthCOMM is to serve students, scholars, and practitioners with a focal point for information relevant to the research, study, teaching, and application of health communication.

www.healthliteracy.com
This home page for Health Literacy Consulting links you to health literacy tips, articles and resources, information about the services of the organization, and tools you can use to raise people's awareness about the importance of health literacy.

www.nlhp.cpha.ca/
This is the site for the National Literacy and Health Program of the Canadian Public Health Association. The site offers resources, the pain-word game, and links to Plain Language Services and the Directory of Plain Language Health Information.

www.hc-sc.gc.ca
This is the official site for Health Canada, the federal department responsible for helping the people of Canada maintain and improve their health. You can search the site for literacy-related information and papers. (In English and French.)

www.hpcpa.org/hlp.html
This homepage of The Health Literacy Project offers information on programs, services, and materials (including Literacy, Health, and the Law: An Exploration of the Law and the Plight of Marginal Readers within the Health Care System: Advocating for Patients and Providers.)

Please note the NCSALL Annotated Bibliography and Literature Review.

www.pls.cpha.ca/english/directry.htm
This site allows you to download the Canadian Public Health Association's Directory of Plain Language Health Information. The Directory provides an annotation and a reading ease rating for each listing. There are several indices grouped according to various search needs (topic, organization, etc.).

www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/cbm/hliteracy.html
This site links to the National Library of Medicine: Current Bibliographies in Medicine. It offers a bibliography on the topic of Health Literacy with 479 citations.

www.worlded.org/us/health/docs/comp
This site offers a download of the "Health and Literacy Compendium," which has a listing and description of materials related to health and literacy.

www.oecd.org/els/education/
This link offers publications from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). The OECD groups 29 member countries in an organization that, provides governments a setting in which to discuss, develop and perfect economic and social policy.

www.contentbank.org  
This site is a project of the Children's Partnership and is for individuals who work in community-based organizations and are looking for on-line resources that meet their clients' needs. Contentbank.org collects, highlights, and develops on-line content created for and by low-income and underserved communities.

www.firstfind.info  
firstfind.info is a new online library providing easy-to-find and easy-to-use information (in English) for low-to-intermediate level adult readers. This Website can be used by anyone looking for a wide range of information relevant to the well being of individuals and their families. Librarians from the New York Metropolitan area collaborated on this project. Subject areas range from housing and jobs to family matters to history and government. Each Website was evaluated as per interest, currency, authority, readability, ease of navigation, design, etc. All Web sites are clearly and briefly annotated. firstfind also offers help screens for novice Web users (developed by ESL teacher and Web Page designer, Maura Donnelly) and for assistance in navigating the site, an on-line dictionary, and a response form.

www.literacyonline.org  
Literacy Online is a gateway to electronic resources and tools for the national and international adult literacy communities.

www.usability.gov  
This site, presented by the National Cancer Institute offers basic information on assessing the usability of web sites and designing user-friendly sites. 

www.cast.org/bobby/
The Bobby tool on this site helps you measure web-accessibility.

www.childrenspartnership.org
This site offers a download of a publication entitled, "Online Content for Low-Income and Underserved Americans." Although the report does not focus on health literacy issues, it offers insight into the accessibility of websites for low-income and underserved Americans.

www.hudrivctr.org/  
The Hudson River Center for Program Development provides teaching tools for those involved with adult education, health promotion, homeless adults, school-to-work initiatives, and incarcerated youth. HRCPD's award-winning Health Promotion for Adult Literacy Students: An Empowering Approach can be used for both group and individual work in ABE, literacy, family literacy and life skills programs. It includes materials for teachers and students.

www.worlded.org/us/health/lincs 
This site is for teacher, students, health educators, or anyone interested in teaching health to people with limited literacy skills. The showcase material in this collection of resources is the Health Literacy Compendium, published by World Education. It is an annotated bibliography bibliography of health materials appropriate for limited-literacy adults, and has over 80 citations to print and Web-based materials.

http://ehrweb.aaas.org/scilit/ 
The home page for the Science and Literacy for Health Drug Education Partnership, a collaboration between The American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The project's goal is to improve the scientific literacy of all adults by identifying and creating culturally sensitive materials for use in literacy programs and community-based adult substance abuse and mental health education programs. The site contains project materials including, "How Drugs Affect the Brain: A Tool Kit for Literacy Programs."

www.alri.org/esquare
This site connects to E-Square (Electronic Square), an electronic village specifically for adults learning English or learning to improve their literacy/basic education skills. It has centers for health, jobs, child care, learning about computers, civics, and home buying. Visit the "Health Center," which features student writings about a variety of health issues. 

www.sabes.org/health/index.htm
This site, offered by the System for Basic Education Support (SABES), is a resource for adult educators who are interested in making connections between health and literacy. The site also provides hands-on resources, such as Curricula, to help strengthen these links through learner-centered work.

www.jcpr.org/index.html
This site is the homepage of the Joint Center for Poverty Research, a national and interdisciplinary academic research center that seeks to advance our understanding of what it means to be poor in America.

  Cultural Competency

www.lhi.org/  
Latino Health Institute is a community based, professional organization that promotes the health of the community, its institutions, families, and individuals, through effective interventions that are culturally competent and technologically appropriate.

www.diversityrx.org
Diversity Rx is a clearinghouse of information on how to meet the language and cultural needs of minorities, immigrants, refugees and other diverse populations seeking health care. In addition to offering basic facts about language and culture, the site offers information on models and practice, policies, and legal issues.

Government / National 
Organizations

http://execsec.od.nih.gov/plainlang/index.html
This National Institute for Health web site describes implementation of plain language initiatives and offers helpful links to plain language guidelines, training and resources in the public and private sectors.

www.nche.org/ 
The National Center for Health Education (NCHE) is a nonprofit health education organization. They design and disseminate health education programs including Growing Healthy, America's first comprehensive school health education curriculum. They also develop health education products that cover topics including violence prevention, drug prevention, and adolescent health issues including HIV and AIDS, sexuality education, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), sexual abuse, and birth control and unintended pregnancy.

www.nnh.org
National Network for Health is a site that contains easy-to-read fact sheets and health information on a variety of public health topics such as immunizations, aging, tobacco and healthy lifestyles.

www.health.gov/scipich/
SciPICH: Science Panel on Interactive Communication and Health: Sponsored by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. This site was designed to help inform consumers navigate through the new technologies and health resources on the web in order to locate the best information resources.  You can take the exercises on this site and learn how to recognize quality information. Most of all educate yourself about what to look for and ask tough questions.

Easy-to-read Health Sites (general and topic-specific)

www.beginningsguides.net/
Information on the publications Beginnings Parent's Guide and Beginnings Pregnancy Guide. 

www.fda.gov/opacom/lowlit/7lowlit.html  
This part of the FDA web site contains a collection of 21 easy-to-read brochures--in English and Spanish on topics such as eating well, arthritis, AIDS, and clinical trials. All brochures are available for download in PDF format and many are available in print form from the FDA.

www.channing-bete.com  
The Channing L. Bete Company is an educational publisher that produces plain language brochures on a variety of health and public health topics. Many brochures are available in both Spanish and English.

http://www.healthopedia.com
A medical and health consumer information resource containing patient-friendly language.

There are now many easy-to-read websites on specific health topics. The following is a sample: