Low-Health Literacy and the Clinical Encounter: Promoting Understanding for Patients through Effective Communication

Abstract

Inadequate health literacy is a major public health concern in the United States. Health communication students and practitioners are well positioned to address this problem productively by focusing on the interactions between health care providers and patients who experience low health literacy. Using Nutbeam’s (2000, 2008) conceptual framework, which frames patient health literacy as an “asset” rather than a “risk,” readers exploring this case are asked to pinpoint and analyze critically the communication that occurs as Alicia, the primary character in the case, navigates her way through a routine visit to a medical clinic. The case study also presents a number of empirically tested communication strategies for helping patients at various levels of health literacy develop stronger health 2 literacy skills. Readers are challenged to apply these communication strategies to the case and to make specific recommendations that enhance Alicia’s clinical experience and her development of health literacy skills.