Why Health Literacy?
The Canadian Expert Panel on Health Literacy defined health literacy as “the ability to access, understand, evaluate and communicate information as a way to promote, maintain and improve health in a variety of settings across the life-course.” Increasingly, health literacy is recognized as a determinant of health in Canada –one that is closely related to other social determinants of health such as literacy, education, income and culture.
The role and impact of health literacy is often not well understood or overlooked. This Toolkit will help community organizations to assess readiness to take action, plan activities, build support and evaluate progress to enhance and embed health literacy in programs and services.
The Toolkit has been informed by the environmental scan and evaluation report from the Learning for Health: Health Literacy Embedded Learning Demonstration Project funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The Learning for Health project began in March 2010 and was completed in February 2012. Partner demonstration sites included The Wellness Institute at Seven Oaks General Hospital (Manitoba), South Shore Family Resource Association (Nova Scotia) and The Association for New Canadians (Newfoundland and Labrador).
"We don't always see the results of demonstration projects being applied on a large scale,” says Stephanie Heath of Research Power Inc., “and we are thankful to the Public Health Agency of Canada for their support in enabling the creation of this Toolkit, so that more organizations will benefit.”
"We're hoping that these tools will prove to be as beneficial to organizations across Canada as they were to the demonstration sites,” explains Gerard Murphy of Barefoot Facilitation Inc., “and we look forward to hearing from organizations interested in offering training around the Toolkit."
The role and impact of health literacy is often not well understood or overlooked. This Toolkit will help community organizations to assess readiness to take action, plan activities, build support and evaluate progress to enhance and embed health literacy in programs and services.
The Toolkit has been informed by the environmental scan and evaluation report from the Learning for Health: Health Literacy Embedded Learning Demonstration Project funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The Learning for Health project began in March 2010 and was completed in February 2012. Partner demonstration sites included The Wellness Institute at Seven Oaks General Hospital (Manitoba), South Shore Family Resource Association (Nova Scotia) and The Association for New Canadians (Newfoundland and Labrador).
"We don't always see the results of demonstration projects being applied on a large scale,” says Stephanie Heath of Research Power Inc., “and we are thankful to the Public Health Agency of Canada for their support in enabling the creation of this Toolkit, so that more organizations will benefit.”
"We're hoping that these tools will prove to be as beneficial to organizations across Canada as they were to the demonstration sites,” explains Gerard Murphy of Barefoot Facilitation Inc., “and we look forward to hearing from organizations interested in offering training around the Toolkit."