Helen Osborne's Tips: 8 Ways You Can Improve Health Communication

Tips for December 2005
by Helen Osborne

Reprinted with permission.

Communicating health information effectively takes more than just short words, bullet points, or colorful pictures.

Based on strategies in my book, Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message, here are 8 ways you can improve health communication.

1. Know your audience, in general. Begin by getting familiar with the "average" person in your intended audience. This means knowing about literacy level, language, culture, and age. It also means being sensitive to disabilities or emotional issues which may affect how the "average" person understands and uses health information.

2. Tailor communication, in specific. But no one really is "average." After you know where to begin, tailor or adapt communication to meet the needs of each individual. This may be drawing pictographs for someone who speaks limited English. Or teaching just one concept at a time to someone who has trouble concentrating. You can also tailor communication by giving resources to learn more.

... read the remaining tips at Helen Osborne's website: http://www.healthliteracy.com/tip-dec2005.html.


You can order a copy of Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message, in any of these ways:

Health Literacy Consulting website at www.jbpub.com/catalog/0763745502/

Amazon.com website at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763745502/002-0417300-8614462?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance

Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message, Copyright 2005, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, http://www.jbpub.com.