Health Literacy SCOM 313 (Fall 2009)
Towards Becoming Effective Health Care Consumers & Advocates
Jim Query, Ph.D.
The purpose of this page is to ID my expectations for the research porject that we will be doing and the accompanying content. This document should be used in close conjunction with the Writing Standards Guide, APA guide within research papers, (see classes page), and the StyleWizard [link at the bottom of classes' page]. Handout. To ease your perusal, an outline format is employed.
OPTIONAL RISK-FREE PROSPECTI DUE DATE: October 22, 2009.
FINAL PROSPECTI DUE: October 29, 2009.
FINAL REPORT DUE: December 10, 2009.
POINT VALUE: 20 percent for prospectus and 20 percent for the final report.
PROSPECTUS AND FINAL PAPER LENGTH PARAMETERS:
While I do have reservations about specifiying an exact length, it is expected that a successful prospectus will span about 8-12 PP per person and the final sections will cover approximately 8-12 PP (these are somewhat flexible ranges) per person. Although you will share ideas and coordinate your activities with your group, you must author individual sections addressing the parameters noted in this document.
For many of you, this type of project will be novel. While your grp must agree about which pressing health care context to examine and address health literacy's impact (e.g., AIDS/HIV, end-of-life decision making, obseity, eating disorders, diabetes, cancer [specify type such as breast, colorectal, prostate, testicular, lung, pancreatic, etc.), Alzheimer's, etc., each of you will work more independently than in most "typical" groups. You may share some resources and ideas; however, I cannot emphasize enough that each of you should adopt somewhat of an entrepreneurial role. Consider too that if any aspect of the health care crisis, and health literacy in particular, was straight-forward, such a novel approach would be unnecessary.
REQUIRED SOURCES:
At least 30, with 10 being shared among the grp so these are identical. Hence, each student must use at least 10 unique sources for the prospectus and 10 unique sources for the final sections, yielding a total of 20 unique sources per student and 10 grp shared. Both the texts may be used, as well as two current event or research articles (class exemplars may be used here). It is a "good" idea to use some of your sources in the risk-free version so I may ID a problem without penalizing you. It is required that at least half the 30 sources be used in the final prospectus and the remainder in the final report.
FORMAT:
All papers should adhere to the standards specified in the writing standard guide, use third person, follow correct documentation procedures (APA), must be typed using double-spacing, have page numbers and section labels (see classes page). Assume also that you are writing to a HEALTH LITERACY neophyte. A neophyte is one who is new to an area, and thus, has much to discover.
OVERVIEW :
It is often uncomfortable and awkward when working in a small group, especially when you may not have any previous knowledge of each other. These feelings are quite typical so please try not be alarmed. Note also that it is a very sound strategy to strive for a high degree of open-mindedness when tackling pressing health care contexts and the various impacts of low health literacy levels. Such situations tend to be "thorny," potentially polarizing, and fraught with dilemmas. At this juncture, you may also be thinking...."OHHH please...I do not intend to be a physician, nurse, etc....NOR have I been ill. So, why should I care??? Well...consider that for the grace of a higher power goes each of us...moreover, is there anyone in this room who can convince the rest of us that the American health care system is fine??
Although I have taught health comm for several years, this is my second time teaching health literacy at the undergraduate level and yes, I taught it once at the graduate level at the University of Houston. [I developed both courses there and spearheaded both the undergrad and grad health comm concentrations].
Somewhat similar to some of the racuous town hall meetings across the U.S. today, we will also address some topics that trigger intense feelings. Rather than adhering to one "best solution" when facing such challenges, it is more productive to weigh the pros and cons and attempt to ID the choices that make the most sense for particular individuals given their situation. One example may be helpful. In one of my earlier classes, a small group suggested that we should send ALL individuals with AIDS/HIV to Mars and it was the "BEST" solution....Yep, I am quite serious....
As the course unfolds, we will undoubtedly experience some "speed bumps" and may struggle at various points. Together though---armed with patience, diligence, and commitment---we can push the envelope and hopefully develop action plans that could make a difference in the lives of those who are experiencing or affected by the respective health care contexts and low health literacy levels. Make no mistake....the challenge is great but so too are the potential rewards and positive ramifications for those close to you. I thrive on such hurdles. Hope you do as well. *VBS*
ASSIGNMENT EXPLICATION:
I. Introduction
Provide a brief overview of the adverse health condition (e.g., its definition, its risk factors, symptoms, typical diagnostic tests; prognoses, and prevalence levels, etc.). Regarding prevalence (i.e., how widespread the health condition is), often NIH, CDC, The Healthy People 2010 report (or older ones), Surgeon General Reports, or various health-driven NGOs often provide epidemiological statistics that can be used.
Describe the target population (e.g., Alzheimer's disease and family members; ovarian cancer and women; breast cancer and family members; multiple scerlosis and adolescents; substance abuse and adolescents; eating disorders and young women or middle aged women; prostate/testicular cancer and men; Lou Gehrig's disease and family members; HIV and individuals of color, as well as among males and females; unwanted teen pregnancies and the young women that bear the children; depression in males and females in North America; female gential mutilation in other countries). There are many other possibilities.
Detail key impacts (e.g., health care costs; missed days at work; emotional costs such as caregiving burden, elevated risk for depression and/or suicide, etc.) Be sure to focus in particular on what is known about your target audience's health literacy levels and how that knowledge leads to opportunities and challenges when trying to lessen the issue's intensity. Provide at least two examples demonstrating low literacy levels among your target population.
Your goals in this section are thus to educate the class and Jim about the nature and scope of the context and health literacy's role. It is also IMPERATIVE that your grp select a context that the majority feel strongly about. [Note that past grps selecting socially desirable topics, but NOT ones they cared about, often produced mediocre or poor work].
[ALL grp members complete the INTRO section].
II. The Role of Health Beliefs And Stages of Change
Drawing from the Health Belief Model (see Thweatt & Query, 2005 for example) AND the Stages of Change Model, in what ways should these be addressed when considering communication interventions (e.g., health campaigns, patient comm skill training, provider comm skill training, town hall meetings, net advocacy campaigns, etc.) to lessen the deleterious impact of low health literacy levels in your context? "Successful" responses will describe the HBM and Stages of Change, illustrate their relevance to the target population, and then highlight how this information might shape interaction at various levels or through diverse communication channels.
[ONLY PART of the grp tackles section II and those writing section II DO NOT write section III].
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III. Drawing from scholarly journal articles, explicate what is known about past interventions to lessen the impacts of low health literacy. Extrapolate some of those findings to the current health care reform debate and some of its various features. Be sure to demonstrate how the present infrastructure hinders and/or blocks widespread dissemination and/or implementation of effective interventions.
"Oh please, will someone call a PCP for Jim??" LOL...
To help clarify somewhat, let's consider an example. Your team reviews a refereed article describing how an online decision making tool helped low-health literate caregivers for family members with Alzheimer's. Your team would describe the intervention and its key features. Next, your team would seek to ink it to enhancing health care delivery and reducing costs. Proceeding further, your team would describe the digital divide's negative impact, computer phobia, etc. (these are obstacles with the former being tied to infrastructure inadequacies).
ID and describe at least one local and national health organization that could and should be involved in lessening low health literacy levels. What are these organizations doing presently to combat low health literacy? Which strategies appear to be the most promising and why?
Relative to the previously identified organizational strategies, what would you suggest to the health care reform movement and why?
[GRP members who did NOT complete section II, MUST COMLETE Section III] .
IV. Scarcity of Resources & Equity
There will never be enough resources to adequately address the vast impacts of low health literacy. There are also those who contend we would be better off aiding only those who can help themselves. The fundamental question then arises: "Whose issue is low health literacy and why is not it equitable to maintain the status quo?" Please respond to the preceding question and contextualize your analysis within your own social networks (e.g., if you have family members or friends who have no health insurance or are under-insured, and/or have low health literacy levels), briefly describe how they have been affected in terms of stigma, delaying care, forgoing purchase of prescriptions, etc). [All students complete Section IV]
