Developing Health Education Materials for Low-Literate Adults

Objectives Discuss profiles and prevalence of low literacy in the USA Describe the impact low literacy has on health care and foodservice industries Contract the difference between the traditional process of developing materials and the three-phase process

Objectives, cont. Design appropriate steps for developing the first draft List characteristics of good illustrations to use with low literate adults Use the SMOG formula or Fry Chart to determine readability level of material

Magnitude of Literacy Problem in USA 20% of adults cannot read or write to complete basis tasks 45 million can barely read 1 of 8 employees reads on a 4th grade level 1 of 5 reads at the 8th grade level Most materials are written at the 9-12th grade level

Literacy Skills Reading Writing Numeracy Document processing

Functional Literacy Ability to: –Read at 4-6th grade level –Address envelop –Fill out forms

Why is literacy a challenge for employers, supervisors, and nutrition educators ?

Not enough qualified candidates to fill jobs because of low literacy - especially in hospitals and food service. Need to use materials designed for a lower literacy audience.

What does it feel like to have limited literacy skills ?

The Traditional Process for Developing Education Materials….

The Three Phase Process…. 1, 2, 3

Phase 1 Planning

Define Audience Age Gender Ethnicity Marriage status Geographic location Determine grade level

Conduct Needs Assessment What do they want to know, not what we think they need Balance perspectives User friendly How to conduct assessment? –Personal interviews –Market surveys

Write Learning Objectives Limit to 1 to 2 objectives Focus writing

Confer with your peers.

Phase 2 Development

Strategic Organization Be consistent in format Put important information first or last –Summarize and repeat points often –Restate in different terms –Use repetition or a series Use one idea per page (or one at a time)

Strategic Organization, cont. Be specific, concise and accurate Present examples Sequence logically –topic –step by step –chronologically

Writing Be careful of cutesy phrases Use simple definitions of new words and repeat often Use active verbs, not passive Use positive statements Use words with single meanings Avoid contractions and acronyms

Writing, cont. Use simple sentences –avoid semicolons, etc. Paragraphs should be short and to the point Repeat the main point throughout the paragraph –unrepeated information lasts 1/4 second to one hour –repeated lasts 8 hours

Illustrations Keep purposeful Place next to the text Remove extraneous detail Realistic full body Better to show only desired behavior

Illustrations, cont. Don’t use distracting illustrations Placing concepts together in a box is an effective visual device Don’t get too clever or cute

Font Optima or Helvetica best Contrast color with background Avoid serifs

Format Use short explanatory headings Adequate white space and wide margins Right justified Recommend 45 letter columns Avoid lengthy lists Double space between paragraphs Do not indent

Phase 3 Evaluation

Readability Fry SMOG