In This Section

Home / Learn / Comprehensive Cancer Care Services / Health Literacy

Health Literacy

Health literacy is defined as "the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions."¹ The skills required encompass reading, listening, analytics, numeracy, and decision-making, plus the ability to navigate a complex and changing healthcare delivery system. Healthcare providers, patients, and other stakeholders have important roles in health literacy.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):²

Anyone who provides health information and services to others, such as a doctor, nurse, dentist, pharmacist, or public health worker, also needs health literacy skills to

Help people find information and services
Communicate about health and healthcare
Process what people are explicitly and implicitly asking for
Understand how to provide useful information and services
Decide which information and services work best for different situations and people so they can act

Given the increasing complexity of cancer diagnosis, treatment, follow-up with survivorship care plans, health literacy is integral to delivery of patient-centered care.

1. Nielsen-Bohlman L, Panzer AM, Kindig DA (eds). Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion. Institute of Medicine Committee on Health Literacy. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2004.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What is Health Literacy?

Featured Program: Let's Be Clear: Communicating to Improve the Cancer Patient Experience

With this education project ACCC seeks to help cancer programs across the country to improve survivorship programming through the application of the health literacy principles.
Learn More

Interactive eCourse

Health Literacy & Clear Communication is a dynamic eCourse that delivers simple methods to improve patient-provider communications. Engage with oncology-specific exercises, activities, and situations and receive real-time feedback and suggestions to put evidence-based strategies into practice.
Explore the eCourse

From Oncology Issues

Healthcare With Community in Its DNA
By Rania Emara

Montefiore Health System’s Community Health Worker Institute has mobilized a workforce of local community experts with the potential to change the way health care systems nationwide approach social drivers of health and health equity.
Reimagining Community Engagement and Equity in Cancer
By Nadine J. Barrett, PHD, MA, MS, FACCC

In her first Oncology Issues column, ACCC president Nadine J. Barrett, PHD, MA, MS, FACCC, shares her 2024-2025 ACCC President’s Theme.
The Impact of the Living Well After Cancer Program on Multiple Indicators of Wellness and Quality of Life
By Nouf Alhomaidhi, MPH, et al.

This study evaluated the effects of regular physical activity on the physical health, psychosocial wellness, and quality of life of cancer survivors.
Collaborative Care: A Model for Embedding Counseling in Oncology and Palliative Care
By Earon Lehning

Embedding counseling services into oncology and palliative care across 6 clinic locations landed this program a 2023 ACCC Innovator Award. Learn how this model allows patients to receive psychosocial care from treatment through survivorship.
A Model for Demonstrating Sustainable Outreach for Cancer Screening
By Jamie Ries and Michael Gieske

Discover how St. Elizabeth Cancer Center launched a comprehensive program to perform outreach to patients with outstanding orders for lung, breast, and colon cancer screenings.

On-Demand Webinars

Increasing Health Literacy to Improve Decision-Making: eHealth and Financial Literacy

Practical strategies for increasing health literacy in patients in order to improve healthcare engagement and shared decision-making, with a special focus on eHealth literacy and financial health literacy. (August 20, 2020)
Plain & Simple: Strategies for Improving Health Literacy

Health literacy related to cancer diagnosis, treatment, and post-treatment follow-up requires on-going attention. This webinar will give you a deeper understanding of the importance of evaluating your cancer program's current health literacy efforts. (October 30, 2020)

Podcast

Defining and Managing Erythropoietin Stimulating Agents (ESAs) Failure in Patients with Low-Risk MDS – [Video Podcast] Ep 44 Jul 11, 2024

In this episode, CANCER BUZZ speaks with Steven Gilmore, PharmD, BCOP, Senior Manager of Clinical Content in Pharmacy and Clinical Programs with McKesson Specialty Health, and Christopher Benton, MD, hematologist and medical oncologist at Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers, to review key considerations and emerging trends for the treatment of anemia in the low-risk MDS population.
Promoting Equitable Care through the 4R Oncology® Model - [Video Podcast] Ep 43 Jun 28, 2024

In this episode, CANCER BUZZ TV speaks with Tom Lycan, DO, MHS, assistant professor of Hematology & Oncology at the Wake Forest School of Medicine, about a practical tool that can provide a care plan roadmap for providers and patients to mitigate precision medicine disparities.
[PODCAST] Ep 61: CLL Patient Education in Transitional Times Jun 29, 2021

As the COVID-19 pandemic recedes and restrictions loosens for most of the U.S., we'll discuss how patient education has become even more critical during this transition.

From the ACCCBuzz Blog

A One-Stop Breast Clinic Improves Time to Diagnosis and Patient Satisfaction
July 31, 2024
Recognizing Implicit Bias and Ways to Overcome It
July 25, 2024
LYTE: Living Your Truth Empowered
July 23, 2024
A Call to Reimagine Community Engagement and Equity in Cancer
By Jessica Ridge
July 10, 2024
#BlackFamCan: The Role of Family and Faith
By Rachel Radwan
June 27, 2024

Share