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According to the Centers for Disease Control (2020), health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to understand health information in order to make health decisions. The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) revealed that 12% had proficient skills, 44% had intermediate skills, 29% had basic skills, and 14% had below basic literacy in English. There were 5% of those who were approached for the study that were considered nonliterate. Most of the individuals who had below basic literacy skills were African American or Hispanic and 26 of these individuals were 65 years and older (Cutilli & Bennett, 2009).
If individuals do not have good health literacy, then they are not able to understand disease prevention strategies and why they are crucial. Health promotion cannot effectively be implemented if the audience does not have a good understanding of health. Cutilli & Bennett (2009) report that health literacy promotes comprehension and supports informed healthcare decision making.
Not only is it important for individuals to be health literate but also for organizations. The organization needs to value and embrace health literacy because it is essential to positive outcomes and patient safety. Health literate organizations benefit the 77 million Americans who have limited health literacy (Brach et al., 2012). It is the role of advanced practice nurses to ensure that individuals and organizations have appropriate health literacy levels. By understanding the literacy rates of the American population, health care professionals can develop proper education tools (Cutilli & Bennett, 2009). Ensuring organizations have health literacy initiatives to improve the rates among the community is an essential step in increasing the literacy rates. Maria 2
SCIENCE
HEALTH SCIENCE
NURSING
