Enhancing Quality of Care Through Improved Health Literacy

2019-Present

Under the leadership of the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, we are working to:

1. Understand clinic readiness for implementing a health literacy initiative.
2. Implement an evidence-informed health literacy intervention.
3. Increase provider awareness about health literacy and improve communication practices.
4. Improve patient participation in health care encounters and health literacy. 

​The health literacy initiative will be implemented in two phases:

• Phase 1 will determine patient communication needs and health care facilities readiness to implement an evidence-informed health literacy initiative through an electronic survey of clinics across South Carolina.
• Phase 2 will involve implementation of this initiative to improve health literacy, patient-provider communication, and health outcomes. The program uses three basic questions—“What is my main problem?” “What do I need to do about it?” “Why is it important for me to do this?”—to help patients better understand their diagnosis and treatment plan. Twenty clinics will be selected to participate based on survey results, in-person interviews, and site visits.  Read all about it at this LINK.

This project is generously funded by The Duke Endowment grant #6816-SP.