Community Health Literacy Project
Need
Intervention
Goals and outcomes
Process
Agencies served
A look inside
For more information
Need
HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for women ages 25–34 in New York City and the second-leading cause of death for women 35-44. Of women living with AIDS, 82% are women of color, according to United Way of New York City. The ability of these women to manage their disease affects not only their own health but the wellbeing of their families and communities.
Healthcare and social service professionals who work with HIV/AIDS populations identify patient noncompliance as an obstacle to positive health outcomes. Few are aware of the extent to which patients’ literacy skills affect compliance. A growing body of medical research shows that low literacy and limited English skills are associated with medication errors, failure to adhere to treatment regimens, and poor health outcomes. Greater awareness of the challenges of limited literacy and knowledge of how adults learn can help healthcare and social service providers communicate more effectively with clients. Better provider-patient communication, in turn, leads to improved compliance with treatment regimens and social service supports.
Intervention
The Community Health Literacy Project, an initiative of United Way of New York City and the LAC, strengthens the communication skills of case workers, counselors, health educators, and others who work with clients in UWNYC’s Women and Families Initiative (WFI). WFI enables 10 community-based organizations in the city to provide comprehensive supports for women with HIV-AIDS.
Goals and outcomes
The goals of the initiative are to:
- Raise staff awareness of the impact of limited literacy and English proficiency on their clients
- Provide social service workers and clinicians with effective strategies for communicating with low-literacy and non-English-speaking clients
Clients, in turn, will become more aware of their health care needs, communicate more effectively with counselors and healthcare providers, adhere more consistently to treatment regimens, and become more knowledgeable about health maintenance measures generally.
Process
The LAC will take three steps in each target agency to meet these goals
- Interview social service and healthcare staff to research communication patterns that are unique to their agency
- Deliver customized training and technical assistance based on the research findings
- Engage an outside evaluator to assess both process and outcomes
Agencies served
In our work on the Community Health Literacy Project, the LAC works with the HIV/AIDS support services staff in the following community-based organizations:
- Church Avenue Merchants Block Association, Inc.
- Community Healthcare Network (two sites, Dr. Betty Shabazz & Queens Center)
- Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) Women’s Institute
- Harlem Dowling-West Side Center for Children and Family Services
- Iris House
- Planned Parenthood of New York City
- Ryan-NENA Community Health Center
- United Bronx Parents
- VIP Community Services
- The Women’s Center at Montefiore Medical Center
A look inside
A Look Inside the Community Health Literacy Project captures the project’s process and outcomes through a snapshot of one day’s training at United Bronx Parents.
For more information
Contact Winston Lawrence, Ed.D., 212.803.3326