Question

Identify the practice of Health literacy of the CDC that have contributed to the creation of their "culture to excellence". A description and examples of how they have contributed to the CDC success.

Answer 1

What is health literacy:

Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions

People have to believe in the improvements, not just see them as short-term solutions, Webster agreed, adding that culture change and change management must be included as areas of focus.

Titler also emphasized the barriers caused by problems at the system level. System-level issues that can potentially detract from

• Review: Examine your organization’s priorities and programs and ask, how could attention to health literacy improve our services and outcomes?
• Choose: Identify the most relevant goals and strategies in the Plan for your programs
• Try: Plan and implement strategies
• Evaluate: Assess the effectiveness of chosen strategies

CDC’s Health Literacy Goals

1. Develop and disseminate health and safety information that is accurate, accessible, and actionable.
2. Integrate clear communication and health literacy in public health planning, funding, policy development, research, and evaluation.
3. Incorporate accurate, standards-based, and developmentally appropriate health and science information and curricula in educational settings from childcare through university levels

Goal 1: Develop and Disseminate Health and Safety Information That Is Accurate, Accessible, and Actionable

In today’s communication-rich environment, people look to many places for information about their health and safety. However, much of the publicly available health and safety information is too technical, too complex, and often too vague about recommended actions. CDC has a unique opportunity to serve as an accessible source of accurate and actionable public health and safety information to help the public as they try to:

• Prevent harm or disease
• Understand diagnoses
• Decide on treatments
• Evaluate risks to their health

CDC is implementing 7 strategies for this goal.

Goal : Integrate Clear Communication and Health Literacy into Public Health Planning, Funding, Policy Development, Research, and Evaluation

Clear communication is essential at CDC because we lead the public health system in the United States and are a key contributor to the global public health infrastructure. CDC influences many aspects of public health practice:

• Planning
• Data collection
• Analysis and reporting
• Disease outbreak investigations
• Use and evaluation of interventions to determine effectiveness
• Public health policy making

• knowledge of fundamental scientific concepts,
• ability to comprehend technical complexity,
• an understanding of technology and
• an understanding of scientific uncertainty and that rapid change in the accepted science is possible.

Civic literacy refers to abilities that enable citizens to become aware of public issues and to become involved in the decision-making process. Categories in this domain of health literacy include:

PUTTING HEALTH LITERACY TO WORK:

• media literacy skills,
• knowledge of civic and governmental processes and
• an awareness that individual health decisions can impact public health.

Cultural literacy refers to the ability to recognize and use collective beliefs, customs, world-view and social identity in order to interpret and act on health information. This domain includes a recognition and skill on the communicator's part to frame health information to accommodate powerful cultural understandings of health information, science and individual and collective action

Efforts to improve health literacy should be high among the list of priorities as the country responds to the possibility of terrorism and bioterrorism. An effective policy would include addressing the import and impact of a complex understanding of the multiple domains of health literacy. That understanding will help to create successful health communication efforts, provide an analytical framework from which to analyze health communication as it is encountered, and ultimately lead to development of a fuller measure of health literacy

Cultural Excellence in Health care literacy:

Culture affects how people communicate, understand, and respond to health information. Cultural and linguistic competency of health professionals can contribute to health literacy. Cultural competence is the ability of health organizations and practitioners to recognize the cultural beliefs, values, attitudes, traditions, language preferences, and health practices of diverse populations, and to apply that knowledge to produce a positive health outcome. Competency includes communicating in a manner that is linguistically and culturally appropriate.

Healthcare professionals have their own culture and language. Many adopt the “culture of medicine” and the language of their specialty as a result of their training and work environment. This can affect how health professionals communicate with the public. For many individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP), the inability to communicate in English is the primary barrier to accessing health information and services. Health information for people with LEP needs to be communicated plainly in their primary language, using words and examples that make the information understandable.

description and examples of how they have contributed to the CDC success.

CHALLENGE

More than two-thirds of Boston residents live within two miles of one of the city’s 28 seasonal markets. However, buying healthy food remains a challenge for many families. According to the Food Research and Action Center, about 78% of lowincome Boston residents receive SNAP benefits. Since 2008, the BBB program has helped local farmers’ markets acquire Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) terminals that accept SNAP benefits. At participating sites, the City of Boston gives SNAP customers up to $10 in matched savings through paper BBB coupons. By 2013, 21 markets had $166,000 in combined SNAP/BBB sales. Yet BBB needed a better distribution and accounting system to sustain its growth. Let’s Get Healthy, Boston!—a partnership between the Boston Public Health Commission and community organizations—collaborated with the Mayor’s Office of Food Initiatives (OFI) to address the challenge.

SOLUTION

With support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the partners launched a BBB Digital Pilot program during the 2015 market season. Six farmers’ markets in low-income neighborhoods throughout Boston replaced their paper-based BBB coupon and accounting system with a digital system. Market managers received training on how to use the new technology. Prior to the new system, SNAP customers had to wait in a separate line to obtain BBB coupons and managers had to keep detailed paper records of every transaction. Now, SNAP customers electronically receive up to $10 in BBB on their EBT cards and BBB invoices are automated with a shorter reimbursement period.

RESULTS

In the pilot year of the BBB Digital program, 598 SNAP customers spent more than $18,000 in SNAP benefits and an additional $9,800 in BBB at six farmers’ markets. Preliminary customer surveys showed that 81% of SNAP customers preferred the new digital system over receiving paper BBB coupons. Customers favored the new system because it was less time-consuming, improved the privacy of their transactions, and made tracking BBB benefits more manageable. Farmers’ market managers and vendors reported high satisfaction with the system’s speed and usability as well as reduced administrative and financial burdens. All six sites plan to continue using the new digital system. The upgrade has also helped the OFI to estimate BBB expenses more accurately, which will improve program management.

SUSTAINING SUCCESS

Let’s Get Healthy, Boston! and the OFI plan to bring the new technology to eight additional farmers’ markets for the 2016 market season, which runs from May through November. The partners are also looking to include other local food outlets in the digital system’s expansion, such as winter markets. These efforts will provide an opportunity to test and commit to the technology before Massachusetts launches the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentives (FINI) project in 2017. FINI is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture and will provide sustainable funding for BBB and similar programs in communities in Boston and across the country.