If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we should not underestimate the importance of being able to read, understand, and act on the health information being shared with the Canadian public. With the contrast between the surge of health directives aimed at Canadians and the frequent examples of social behaviour that seem to defy public health orders (Papadakos et al., 2021), one may wonder, how did we get here?
As a health care professional, you are likely familiar with the concept of health literacy: a person’s ability to “access, understand, and utilize information in order to create an informed decision regarding their health” (van Ballegooie & Honag, 2021). In Canada, it’s reported that nine million people have limited literacy skills (Chen et al., 2021), with over half of Canadians reading below a high school level (van Ballegooie & Honag, 2021).
It is important to remember that many factors contribute to a person’s health literacy. Health literacy is not just being able to read and understand written health information. It is affected by a person’s confidence in asking questions, their experience using health resources to stay healthy, and their ability to successfully navigate the health care system. This last point includes a person’s ability to access preventative screening, make decisions about treatments, and self-manage their health at home (Lloyd et al., 2021; Qi et al., 2021; Olisarova et al., 2021).
The global pandemic has brought health literacy to the forefront, highlighting gaps in Canadians’ reading and comprehension levels, as well as in their ability to distinguish between fact and fiction, and in their trust levels in following public health guidance.
Re-examining Canadians’ health literacy matters now more than ever (Abrams et al., 2021; Chowdhury et al., 2021; Papadakos et al., 2021; Qi et al., 2021) as health care professionals continue national efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus and support thousands of Canadians as they recover from COVID-19 (PHAC, 2021).
Although addressing the health literacy of Canadians is only one contributor to slowing the spread of the coronavirus, it is a significant one. If Canadians do not have a sufficient understanding of preventative health messaging about COVID-19, the risk of infection and spread of the virus is higher (Abdel-Latif, 2020).
Papadakos, J., Reznikov, V., Giannopoulos, E., Giuliani, M., & Papadakos, T. (2021). The literacy demand of cancer & COVID-19 consumer health information. Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet, 25(1), 50–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/15398285.2020.1858258
van Ballegooie, C., & Hoang, P. (2021). Health services: A mixed methods assessment of Canadian cancer patient education materials related to the 2019 novel coronavirus. Cancer Control, 28, 107327482198970. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073274821989709
Chen, A. M. H., Armbruster, A. L., Buckley, B., Campbell, J. A., Dang, D. K., Devraj, R., Drame, I., Edwards, A., Haack, S. L., Ma, Q., Petry, N., Planas, L. G., Sadowski, C. A., Santee, J., Wade, L., & Borja-Hart, N. (2021). Inclusion of health disparities, cultural competence, and health literacy content in US and Canadian pharmacy curriculums. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 85(1), 8200. https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe8200
Lloyd, J. E., Song, H. J., Dennis, S. M., Dunbar, N., Harris, E., & Harris, M. F. (2018). A paucity of strategies for developing health literate organisations: A systematic review. PLoS ONE, 13(4), e0195018. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195018
Qi, S., Hua, F., Xu, S., Zhou, Z., & Liu, F. (2021). Trends of global health literacy research (1995-2020): Analysis of mapping knowledge domains based on citation data mining. PloS One, 16(8), e0254988. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254988
Olisarova, V., Kaas, J., Staskova, V., Bartlova, S., Papp, K., Nagorska, M., Korucova, R., & Reifsnider, E. (2021). Health literacy and behavioral health factors in adults. Public Health, 190, 75–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2020.11.011
Canadian Council on Learning. (2008). Health literacy in Canada: A healthy understanding. http://www.en.copian.ca/library/research/ccl/health/health.pdf
Council of Ministers of Education, Canada & the Public Health Agency of Canada. (2017). The health and social dimensions of adult skills in Canada: Findings from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). http://www.piaac.ca/docs/PIAAC2018/PIAAC%202012_Health%20and%20Social%20Dimensions_Canada%20EN.pdf
Abrams, E. M., Singer, A. G., Greenhawt, M., Stukus, D., & Shaker, M. (2021). Ten tips for improving your clinical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Current Opinion in Pediatrics, 33(2), 260–267. https://doi.org/10.1097/MOP.0000000000000998
Chowdhury, N., Khalid, A., & Turin, T. C. (2021). Understanding misinformation infodemic during public health emergencies due to large-scale disease outbreaks: A rapid review. Journal of Public Health (Berlin), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-021-01565-3
Abdel-Latif, M. M. M. (2020). The enigma of health literacy and COVID-19 pandemic. Public Health, 185, 95–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2020.06.030
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2021, August 20). COVID-19 daily epidemiology update. Canada.ca. https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/epidemiological-summary-covid-19-cases.html
Librarian Educator, Patient Education Pamphlets Lead
Nova Scotia Hospital, Central Zone
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