Research/Report
Author(s): Jan Adversario, Austin Community College
The scope and definition of health literacy continues to expand and evolve. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies two types of health literacy: personal and organizational. Personal health literacy is defined as “the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.” Thus, it is different from organizational health literacy where the obligation falls on health providers and health systems to provide information to patients in ways that they can be understood. This article focuses on helping develop personal health literacy for adult English language
learners and how adult educators can weave health literacy into their curriculum.