Glencoe Health

Introduction:
As you learned in this lesson, whether you are health literate can influence your total health more than age, income, or education. Just what does it mean to be health literate? In its Healthy People 2010 report, the U.S. government came up with its own definition. The site below tells you more about what health literacy is and about all the ways it can affect your health. .

Links to Explore:
Health Literacy
http://nnlm.gov/outreach/consumer/hlthlit.html

Directions:

• Click on the link and read the article on health literacy from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine.
• Then answer the following questions:

1			How does Healthy People 2010 define health literacy?
2			Give three examples of tasks patients need to be able to carry out.
3			About how many Americans have difficulty understanding and using health information?
4			Identify four factors that can affect people’s level of health literacy.
5			Explain three ways in which low health literacy can contribute to a higher rate of death from cancer.
6			What is the estimated cost to society of additional health care costs due to low health literacy?