improving health information literacy: outreach to …...3. create an outreach plan to share...

Improving Health Information Literacy:

Outreach to Peer Language Navigators The Anchorage Health Literacy Collaborative

Funding and In-Kind Support Provided by:

• National Library of Medicine

• University of Alaska Anchorage

- Alaska Medical Library

- Department of Health Sciences: Masters of Public Health

- Center for Human Development

• YWCA Alaska

• Providence Health and Services Alaska

Long

The Project

Introduce the use of high quality online health information

resources to Peer Language Navigators who represent minority

populations and people with limited English proficiency in

Anchorage, Alaska.

Goals

1. Increase confidence in finding reliable online health

resources.

2. Identify attributes of reliable online health resources.

3. Create an outreach plan to share knowledge and skills with

community members.

4. Identify if online health information is at appropriate level of

understanding and culturally relevant for the people served

4 PLNs were recruited representing the following

languages: Spanish, Nepali, Wolof/French, Arabic/Amharic

Each PLN attended 4 training sessions which included:

• Introduction to Health Literacy

• Using a tablet in class and in the community

• Evaluating web-sites: Is it reliable?

• Using MedlinePlus

• Developing a community outreach plan

• Defining the PLN role

• Data Collection

Results • 100% of PLNs reported an increased confidence level in

their ability to access quality health information.

• PLNs completed over 100 contacts, assisting their

community members to find high quality health information

and resources.

• PLNs reported a high satisfaction level with the training and

opportunity to serve their community. They have requested

additional training to further their knowledge and skills.

• Community partnerships and collaborative efforts

supporting health literacy were strengthened.

• Importance of regularly scheduled support meetings

during community outreach phase.

• MedlinePlus utilized 95% of the time when assisting

community members.

• Laptop better than tablet, provides more media capacity.

• Use of LibGuide and SurveyMonkey was effective.

Lessons Learned

The Approach

The Future

• Replicate project with 4 new PLNs representing

different languages and ethnicity groups.

• Provide ongoing education and support for current

PLN cohort.

• First PLN cohort will mentor to second cohort of

PLNs .