Supplemental Materials
Companion Guides
The companion guide includes a breakdown of the framework structure, the factors that influence health literacy, and some ways that professional organizations such as libraries, healthcare organizations, universities, schools, research organizations, and community-based organizations can advance health literacy.
Health Literacy Framework guide
Long-text Description
This text describes each layer of the framework, also included in pop-up panels in the graphic above.
- Community and Culture
- Environment
- Systems
Social and cultural determinants of health have a large impact on individuals and also affect the other layers in the framework. Social and cultural determinants of health include factors related to:
- People’s community and culture (like social support and community-based resources)
- The environment (like built environment, housing safety, and air quality)
- Systems (like systemic access to healthcare)
- Skills
- Knowledge
- Personal Factors
Health literacy sits at the intersection of individuals and information. Health literacy is influenced by individuals’:
- Skills (like listening, reading, and problem-solving skills)
- Knowledge (like education, prior experience, and familiarity with a topic)
- Personal factors (like language, age, and health status)
Health literacy is the ability to access, understand, and use health information. How easily people can do this depends on both the individual and the information. Health literacy is at the center of the framework — at the intersection of individuals and information — because all the other layers impact health literacy.
- Information
- Accessibility
- Quality
- Relevance
It’s the role of professionals and organizations to provide information that individuals can access, understand, and use. How well individuals can access, understand, and use information depends in part on that information’s:
- Accessibility (like visibility, website performance, and navigability)
- Quality (like accuracy and readability)
- Relevance (like cultural relevance, and relatability)
- Skills
- Knowledge
- Personal Factors
The accessibility, quality, and relevance of health information is influenced by professionals’: Skills (like oral communication, digital literacy, and interpersonal skills)
- Knowledge (like education, awareness of resources, and memory)
- Personal factors (like beliefs, emotional state, and bias)
- Norms
- Policies
- Practices
Professionals’ ability to provide appropriate health information is influenced by these factors at organizations:
- Norms (staff buy-in, company mission and values, and leadership support)
- Policies (staff training, information quality standards, and organizational requirements)
- Practices (patient care models, accessibility, healthcare delivery systems, and health information systems)
There is overlap in the roles that professionals and organizations play in health literacy since professionals make up organizations.
Communicate Health (2024). NNLM health literacy framework. Network of the National Library of Medicine. https://www.nnlm.gov/guides/health-literacy-framework.