Effective Communication and Health Literacy in Provision of a Culturally Safe Environment

Running head: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND HEALTH LITERACY 1
Effective Communication and Health Literacy in Provision of a Culturally Safe Environment
Student Name
Institutional Affiliation

EFFECTIVE COMMNICATION AND HEALTH LITERACY 2
Introduction
Health literacy is the ability of an individual to comprehend and take action on the health
information. Individuals with inadequate knowledge of health information are more susceptible
to misinterpreting the health information compared to those with sufficient health literacy.
Health communication comprises of mass or interpersonal communication events that focus on
advancing the health status of a person as well as that of the targeted populations (Ishikawa, and
Kiuchi, 2010). The skills for health information comprehension and application are usually
critical to the health literacy process and might be of a considerable effect on the health
outcomes and behaviors. The association between poor health and inadequacy in health literacy
might be due to the poor quality of communication within the healthcare center delivery
institutions. Limited health knowledge is acknowledged as a contributing factor to various health
disparities and ethnic/racial differences through poor adherence and understanding mechanisms
as well as limited health care access (Lie, Carter-Pokras, Braun, and Coleman, 2012).
The importance of effective communication and health literacy in providing a culturally
safe environment
Effective communication at the healthcare centers leads to improved health literacy thus
providing an environment that is culturally safe. Figure 1 shows the relationship between health
literacy, communication and culturally responsive health services that impact health outcomes.
Figure 1: Interaction between communication, cultural competence, health literacy and health
outcome. Source: (Lowell et al., 2014).

EFFECTIVE COMMNICATION AND HEALTH LITERACY 3
The importance of improved health knowledge are;
Reduction in the inequalities in healthcare provision
The increasing concern of the health knowledge literature is to reduce the health
disparities, especially where health literature relates to the linguistically and culturally diverse
population. This aspect has resulted in a decrease of the health inequality cases. The capabilities
of the health care providers address the cases of unequal health care access to the common
understanding of the info amongst the health professionals and the patients. The health
specialists recognize the presence of a health profession culture and the biasness and
assumptions related to the specified culture (Ishikawa, and Kiuchi, 2010). The professionals then
deploy effective communication skills and utilize the team assets in recognizing, diagnosing and
addressing cultural differences and limited health literacy issues. Therefore, the health care
providers contribute to the decrease of the disparities related to the wellbeing of a person. There
is an increase in the emphasis on the healthcare provider’s accommodation of the customers’
needs as well as limiting the healthcare access barriers. The study of the diverse linguistic and
cultural backgrounds of people allows the reduction in the healthcare access inequalities
(Sørensen et al., 2012).
Enhanced navigation of the health structure
The inclusion of the system navigation criterion in the recent assessment tools for health
literacy has been of great significance in the effective communication advancement at the
healthcare units. Different tools have been used in the assessment of the critical and interactive
literacy for additional evaluation of social skills and oral literacy of the targeted individuals. The
valuation has led to advancement in the navigation capabilities of the health care system,
therefore leading to adequate knowledge acquisition by the patients concerning their health
status. This has led to effective understanding and adherence to the health instructions given by
the professionals, thus resulting in improved health of the patients (Koh, Brach, Harris, and
Parchman, 2013).