Mental Process
health literacy
health lit·er·a·cy
Subclass of:
Information Literacy
Definitions related to health literacy:
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Degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.NLM Medical Subject HeadingsU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
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The degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand basic health information and services to make health decisions. (After The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, Title V; After What is Health Literacy? Oct 23, 2019)NCI ThesaurusU.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
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Health literacy involves the information that people need to be able to make good decisions about health. There are two parts: Personal health literacy is about how well a person can find and understand the health information and services that they need. It is also about using the information and services to make good health decisions.; Organizational health literacy is about to how well organizations help people find the health information and services that they need. It also includes helping them use that information to make good health decisions. Which factors can affect health literacy? Many different factors can affect a person's health literacy, including their Knowledge of medical words; Understanding of how the health care system works; Ability to communicate with health care providers; Ability to find health information, which may require computer skills; Reading, writing, and number skills; Personal factors, such as age, income, education, language abilities, and culture; Physical or mental limitations. Many of the same people who are at risk for limited health literacy also have health disparities. Health disparities are health differences between different groups of people. These groups may be based on age, race, gender, or other factors.MedlinePlusU.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
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