HLiA Track (Virtual Conference Agenda)
(Monday, October 19 - Wednesday, October 21)
HLiA Agenda – Monday, October 19
10:45 am – 11:25 am (ET)
Opening - Michael Villaire, MSLM
Institute for Healthcare Advancement
Plenary: Working Together to Support Health Literacy
Dr. Rima E. Rudd
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Description:
This opening talk sets the stage for one of the conference themes – that of deeper collaboration amongst us. First though, it is important to note that our efforts focused on health literacy offer opportunities to contribute to social justice. Our emphasis on dignified exchanges and reduced barriers to information, action, care, and services sounds an optimistic note during these difficult times. This collaborative conference offers an opportunity to shape strong and broad partnerships and perhaps a health literacy collectivity that eliminates some of the traditional divides amongst us -- whether it be based on our identify as researchers, practitioners, or policy makers or based on our work focus on activism, disaster mitigation, health care, environmental health, occupational health and safety, or public health. We look at some of the downfalls of segregated areas of work, move to examples of productive achievements from collaborative efforts, and note opportunities to help shape new research, further enhance practice, and support new public policies.
Learning Objectives:
11:30 am – 12:10 pm (ET)
Breakout: What’s Your Goal? Choose the Most Effective Numbers for What You Want to Communicate
Jessica Ancker, PhD
Weill Cornell Medical College
Brian Zikmund-Fisher, PhD
University of Michigan
Description:
When we write health materials, we choose our words to support our goal. If we want to persuade the reader to do something, we choose one type of language. If we want to provide balanced information, we might choose different language.
It turns out that we need to make similar choices when it comes to numbers. When we want to describe a risk, we can choose from among several types of numbers: a percent, a frequency, a graph, or even a phrase such as “low risk.” When we want to provide test results to a patient, we might choose a table, a number line, or a term such as “normal.” All of these options can be considered number types. The evidence shows that the number types most effective for persuasion differ from the types that promotes balanced understanding of options. And different number types might help us achieve goals of being memorable or seeming credible.
In this session, you’ll learn the evidence about the types of numbers that best match your communication intent, and practice some exercises demonstrating the different effects of different number types.
Objectives:
After this session, participants will be able to:
12:20pm – 1:00pm
Breakout: Numeracy Best Practices: When, Why, and How to Use (or Lose) Numbers in Health Materials
Andrea Mongler
CommunicateHealth
Sandy Hilfinker
CommunicateHealth
Description:
Health information is often complicated and hard to understand, especially for people with low health literacy skills. Health materials that are full of numbers can be especially confusing. That's why many health communicators are taught to use numbers only when necessary. But what does that really mean? And is it good advice?
In this session, you’ll learn what research tells us about including numbers in different types of health materials for audiences with low health literacy. You'll also hear what consumers have to say — in their own words — about numbers in health materials. And you’ll get practical tips to help you decide when to include numbers, what types of numbers to use, and when to leave them out of your materials entirely.
Objectives:
After this session, participants will be able to:
1:00 pm – 1:50 pm (ET)
Lunch
1:50 pm – 2:20 pm (ET)
Introduction
Michael Paasche-Orlow, MD, MA, MPH
Boston University Medical Center
Plenary: Race, the literacy gap, and the Pandemic
Ray Block, PhD
Description:
By drawing from recent research and experiences as a community-engaged pollster, this session explores some health literacy barriers among African Americans while considering potential strategies for overcoming them.
Objectives:
2:30 pm – 3:10 pm (ET)
Breakout: Helping Older Adults Bridge the Digital Divide
Simona Valanciute, MBA
San Diego Oasis
Description
San Diego Oasis has taken 4,000 older adults who were used to attending one of 30 physical program locations to virtual participation over a weekend. Simona will share lessons learned in the transition, continual learning and improvement, and its newest pilot project: Bridging the Digital Divide, which is deploying a full suite of tech devices and services to low income, socially isolated senior population.
Objectives:
3:20 pm – 4:00 pm (ET)
Breakout: Consumer Engagement during COVID-19: Lessons Learned from a Transition to Virtual Focus Groups
B. Alison Caballero, MPH, CHES
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Center for Health Literacy
Description:
Limitations for hosting in-person field testing sessions have required many to rethink how they solicit end-user feedback on health materials. With trial and error, we have successfully shifted this work to a virtual platform and are getting incredible feedback from our participants, including those with known health literacy challenges. We will highlight our journey of exploration and adaptation throughout the field testing life cycle, covering logistics, implementation, and session follow-up activities.
Objectives:
HLiA Agenda – Tuesday, October 20
10:45 am – 11:25 am (ET)
Opening - Cynthia Baur, PhD
UMD Horowitz Center for Health Literacy
Plenary: Healthy People 2030 Health Literacy Definitions: Historic and Historical.
Cindy Brach
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Description:
Learn what is new, and not so new, about Healthy People 2030’s definitions of health literacy. Cindy Brach, Co-Chair of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Literacy Workgroup and a member of the Healthy People Health Communication and Health Information Technology Workgroup, will describe the process of developing the definitions and their implication for research and practice.
Objectives:
Attendees will learn:
11:30 pm – 1:00 pm (ET)
Breakout: The Double Whammy of Pandemic and Infodemic: Applying Health Literacy and Clear Communication Principles to Overcome Misinformation
Corinne Berry
CommunicateHealth
Description:
The COVID-19 pandemic has put public health front and center in 2020 — and people's ability to access, understand, and use health information to reduce health risks is now more important than ever. But along with the pandemic, we're facing an "infodemic," which may be doing more damage than we realize. With all the false, inaccurate, and misleading health information that's out there, what — and who — can you trust? And how can we overcome information fatigue?
In this session, you'll learn about the psychology behind misinformation, why it tends to stick, and how people with limited health literacy skills can be particularly vulnerable. You'll also learn about strategies to cut through the cluttered information environment by applying health literacy, clear communication, and behavior change principles.
Objectives:
After this session, participants will be able to:
1:00 pm – 1:50 pm (ET)
Lunch
1:50 pm – 2:20 pm (ET)
Introduction - Cynthia Baur, PhD
UMD Horowitz Center for Health Literacy
Plenary: Reaching the Hispanic Community in Times of Crisis – Lessons from Por Nuestra Salud y Bienestar
Anna Maria Izquierdo-Porrera MD PhD
Care for Your Health, Inc
Gianina Hasbun
Latino Health Initiative, Montgomery County DHHS
Nora Morales
Identity, Inc
Description:
In this session, we will draw from our experiences and discuss the key elements for effectively engaging Hispanic communities to access services and care for their health. Por Nuestra Salud y Bienestar (For Our Health and Wellbeing) is a private-public partnership established in Montgomery County, Maryland to tackle the health disparities suffered by Latinos during the COVID-19 pandemic. A crucial element of this project has been the communication efforts specifically designed to reach underserved communities.
Objectives:
2:30 pm – 3:10 pm (ET)
Breakout: The MRCT Center Health Literacy in Clinical Research Website: Supporting Clear Communications Throughout the Clinical Research Life Cycle
Sylvia Baedorf Kassis, MPH, CYT
MRCT Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard
Description:
In this session the presenter will provide an overview of the MRCT Center’s multi-stakeholder initiative to develop and launch a Health Literacy in Clinical Research website for the clinical research community to use when creating participant-facing materials. The website itself will be showcased through a discussion of the principles of health literacy in clinical research, a review of available resources, and a presentation of case studies. Current and future efforts to support the application of health literacy through a collaboratively developed plain language research glossary as well as other resources will also be reviewed.
Objectives:
At the end of the session, attendees will be able to:
3:20 pm – 4:00 pm (ET)
Breakout: National Council to Improve Patient Safety Through Health Literacy
Karen Komondor, BSN, RN, CCRN
Health Literacy Institute
St. Vincent Charity Medical Center
Description:
We will describe the process by which a team of health literacy champions collaborated to develop proposals to The Joint Commission to:
- Elevate health literacy to a National Patient Safety Goal, and
- Certify organizations as Health Literate Healthcare Organizations once they meet pre-determined criteria
Objectives
HLiA Agenda – Wednesday, October 21
10:45 am – 11:25 am (ET)
Opening - Michael Villaire, MSLM
Institute for Healthcare Advancement
Plenary: Disseminating Culturally Relevant Social Media Messages
Sloane Bickerstaff, MPH
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Description:
This session will focus on how to use research to create and disseminate culturally relevant social media messages
Objectives:
11:30 am – 1:00 pm (ET)
Creating a Foundation for Interprofessional, Health Literacy Education for Health, Social Work, and Legal Professionals
Moderator: Cynthia Baur, PhD
UMD Horowitz Center for Health Literacy
Panelists:
Heather Congdon, PharmD
UMB School of Pharmacy
Alice Horowitz, PhD
UMD Horowitz Center for Health Literacy
Lauren Wheeler, MLIS
UMB Health and Human Services Library
Dominique Gelmann, MDc
UMD School of Medicine
Sonia Galvan, MS, RN, CNE
Harford Community College
Elsie Stines, DNP, CRNP
University of Maryland, Baltimore Office of the President
Description:
Educating health professionals to recognize health literacy challenges and communicate clearly with all patients has been a national goal for almost two decades. Since the Healthy People 2010 health communication objectives made health literacy education a priority, issues of interprofessionalism, team-based care, and patients' social determinants have also become relevant topics for health professional education. This panel describes an interprofessional collaboration among faculty and students from schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, social work, law, public health, and library sciences to identify effective ways to provide and evaluate health literacy education. Panelists will describe the challenges in identifying evidence-based practices, evaluation methods, and differences in professional competencies and curricula and offer examples of how interprofessional health literacy education might work.
Objectives:
After this session, participants will be able to:
1:00 pm – 1:30 pm (ET)
Closing
Cynthia Baur, PhD
UMD Horowitz Center for Health Literacy
Michael Villaire, MSLM
Institute for Healthcare Advancement
Michael Paasche-Orlow MD, MA, MPH
Boston University Medical Center