Health Literacy, SMOG Formula, and Readability Report Analysis

This report delves into the concept of health literacy, defining it as the ability to understand and utilize health information for informed decision-making. It highlights the factors influencing health literacy, including individual and systemic elements such as culture, communication skills, and numeracy. The report identifies at-risk populations, specifically the elderly and individuals with HIV/AIDS, emphasizing the challenges they face due to low health literacy. It analyzes the impact of low literacy on health promotion and education, limiting the dissemination and comprehension of health information. The SMOG formula, a tool for assessing readability, is described and applied to an example document. The analysis reveals the document's readability level and evaluates its appropriateness for the target audience, offering recommendations for improvement. The report emphasizes the significance of clear, concise communication in health education to ensure effective information delivery and comprehension, particularly for vulnerable populations.

Literacy is an in-depended term that refers to the ability of a person to real, speak, write,
compute and solve problems at levels necessary to the development of an individual’s potential
and knowledge, achievement of ones objectives and functions in the society (or job). In medical
terms, health literacy refers to the extent to which a person possess the capacity to obtain,
process and conceptualize basic health data and services required in making appropriate health
decisions (Batterham et al., 2016). Health literacy relies on different systemic and individual
factors (Bhatt, et al., 2019). These factors include, culture, demands of the public health and
healthcare system, demand of the context, professional knowledge of the health topics and
communication skills of professionals and lay persons.
Health literacy includes numeracy skills of the individuals. For instance, calculating
blood sugar levels and the cholesterol content in the blood, medication measurements and
interpretation of nutritional labels calls for mathematical knowledge and skills. It is essential to
conceptualize the procedure of calculating deductibles, premiums and copays for one to be able
to compare prescriptions and choose between different health plans. As opposed to the basic
literacy skills, health literacy calls upon an individual to be conversant with the health topic.
People who lack information on the health topic are regarded illiterate in the sector. Failure to
acknowledge the health topics makes an individual unable to understand the relationship between
lifestyle factors like exercise and exercise and various health outcomes.
Several people are at risk for low health literacy at the community level. Most
importantly, the aged are at high risk. Often, most health complications are associated with the
elderly people in the society. Such complications include diabetes, hypertension, ulsers, obesity
and kidney diseases. It would be naïve to neglect the fact that most of these complications arise
from lifestyle changes that occur as an individual ages up. Most significantly, most of the elderly

people perform very little exercises which is a major predisposing factor to their illness.
Secondly, the elderly suffer from dietary knowledge which constitutes the worsening of their
condition. Therefore, health literacy challenge is a great blow to the elderly at the community
level.
Additionally, heath literacy deficiency is a heavy blow to the victims of HIV and AIDS.
Often, HIV and AIDS is a predisposing factor for numerous chronic diseases due to depriving of
the immunity system of the body. On the same note, HIV is associated with victimization hence
a necessity for personal privacy. Therefore, for the privacy to be maintained, the victims must
have sufficient knowledge regarding self-care and management of HIV related abnormalities
(Koroukian et al., 2019). However, illiteracy affects an individual’s ability to navigate the
healthcare system, including completion of complex forms and locating caregivers and their
associated services. Health illiteracy also makes it impossible for an individual to share personal
information like the medical history with the medical practitioner. Furthermore, the illiteracy
makes it difficult for an individual to effectively manage chronic conditions and engage in self-
care. Therefore, the victims of HIV and AIDS in the community are likely to be negatively
impacted by lack of health literacy.
Low literacy has a profound negative impact on health promotion and education. Low
literacy limits the amount of health information to be navigated to people hence affecting health
promotion. On the same note, low literacy affects the ability of the recipients to understand and
conceptualize what they are being taught into real life circumstance. In so doing, effective health
promotion is impaired. Low literacy on the other hand limits the number of experts to
disseminate knowledge to the members of the society hence affecting health education. Also, the

available experts are demoralized by the fact that the level of understanding of the health
concepts by the public is low.
The SMOG formula is an approach developed by Harold C. McGraw for assessment of
the readability level of an individual’s material (Luong, Nguyen, & Dinh, 2018). As per the formula,
reading at or above the grade level enables an individual to conceptualize 90-100% of the data
(Solnyshkina, Ivanov, & Solovyev, 2018). It is vital to aim at a reading level of six grade or below.
Additionally, it is significant to real the document aloud in to ensure that it is clear and readable.
The figure below shows the results after employing the SMOG readability calculator on
an online article regarding significant directions for health and healthcare.
Following the results presented in the figure above, it is clear that the document is
perfectly readable. Therefore, there exists a need for recommendations for improving the
readability of the material.
The document provided is significant in providing literacy to the target groups (victims of
HIV/AIDS and the elderly in the community). Most importantly, the paper addresses the steps to
be followed in promoting health and healthcare among the aging population. This is vital
following the fact that the elderly are the ones who are heavily impacted by illiteracy in the
community. The document also aims at enhancing delivery of effective care for those who have

multiple chronic conditions (Rowe, Fulmer, & Fried, 2016). This is a significant section within the
document because most of the people who suffer from multiple chronic conditions are the elderly
and victims of HIV and AIDS (British HIV Association, 2019). Therefore, the document contains
wisdom and knowledge on the management of their condition. The document also proposes for
social engagement alternatives including work-related approaches in the promotion of health in
late life. This is a significant statement because the mind of a person deteriorates as an individual
ages. Thus, there is a need for a person to live in a socially oriented society in order to be
reminded of the health promotion programs.
Based on the example of the sentence provided to improve readability skills, I would
recommend several strategies. Firstly, I would recommend for the use of short sentences.
Usually, long sentences pose a challenge when the reader tries to follow. More than two comas
in a sentence means that the sentence can be broken into two. Secondly, it is significant to reduce
jargons, insider word and acronyms because the readers might not understand the words within
the industry. Finally, it is essential to turn complex statements into simple maxims that can be
understood and followed by the reader.
Link:
https://nam.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Preparing-for-Better-Health-and-Health-Care-for-an-
Aging-Population.pdf

References
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Koroukian, S., Schiltz, N., Rose, J., Cooper, G., Owusu, C., Statler, A., ... & Markt, S. (2019).
MULTIPLE CHRONIC CONDITIONS IN OLDER CANCER SURVIVORS WITH
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(2019). Evaluation of Factors Influencing Health Literacy in Adolescents and Adults with
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Luong, A. V., Nguyen, D., & Dinh, D. (2018, November). A New Formula for Vietnamese Text
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