Health Information Literacy

The American Corner Yerevan (ACY)

Saturday 7 July, 2012

Charles J GreenbergSpecial Projects Librarian

Yale Medical LibraryFulbright Specialist, Yerevan,

Armenia21 June – 10 July, 2012

2CONFIDENTIAL

Terminology

• Health Literacy–An individual's ability to read, understand and use healthcare information to make decisions and follow instructions for treatment

3CONFIDENTIAL

Terminology

•What are basic health literacy tasks? Understanding doctor's instructions

Following the directions on a prescription pill container

4

Health Literacy Video

http://vimeo.com/34584020

5CONFIDENTIAL

Terminology

• Information Literacy–competencies that enables individuals to recognize needs for information, and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use information effectively

6

Information Literacy and

Library Research

•locate, evaluate, and use information effectively

7

Information Literacy Video

What is a citation?• by Khue Duong

http://vimeo.com/25463298

8

Health Literacy

+Information

Literacy=

9

Health Information

Literacy

10

Health Information Literacy

• Recognize a health information need

• Identify information sources• Assess the quality of the

information• Understand and use the

information to make decisions

11

Recognize a health information need

Health Information Literacy

Having Health Problemsby dobrien

http://vimeo.com/2369694

12

Identify information sources

Health Information Literacy

“80% of internet users, or 59% of U.S. adults, look online for health information.”

http://www.pewinternet.org/Commentary/2011/November/Pew-Internet-Health.aspx

13

Assess the quality of the information

?

Health Information Literacy

14

Understand and use the information to make decisions

?

Health Information Literacy

15CONFIDENTIAL

Focus this Week• Health Information Literacy

–assess the quality of the information.

Assessing the quality of Information found on web sites:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMb0_5pI-u4&feature=related

16

Where can you learn how to assess health web sites?

• Health on the Net Foundation (NGO)• http://healthonnet.org/

• US National Library of Medicine- MedlinePlus• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/criteria.html

• US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine• http://nccam.nih.gov/health/webresources/

CONFIDENTIAL17

Health on the Net Foundation

http://www.hon.ch/

CONFIDENTIAL18

Health on the Net (HON) Code

CONFIDENTIAL19

HON Evaluation Criteria

• Authoritative- author qualifications• Complementary- does not replace experts• Privacy & Confidentiality• Attribution- sources for statements• Justifiability- back up claims• Transparency- identities and contacts• Financial disclosure• Advertising policy- Ads labeled?

CONFIDENTIAL20

Some Problematic Sites

•http://www.healthcentral.com/

•http://www.hepc-connection.org/

•http://www.sleepeducation.com/

CONFIDENTIAL21

Recommendations for Consumers (everybody!)

• Start with a Medical Library web site that evaluates and recommends health information. www.medlib.am , www.medlineplus.gov , www.mayoclinic.org

• When find out about a health web site, remember that a web site must never replace your relationship with your physician.

• Ask librarians for assistance in using health information web sites.

CONFIDENTIAL22

Recommendations for Librarians

• Always do a formal evaluation of a health web site according to HON or other criteria before adding a link.

• Google will offer paid ads and frequently cited pages. If you search Google for a health topic, look at the first page of results for either MedlinePlus or MayoClinic links.

• Build library web pages that teach health information literacy and try teaching it yourself.

23

Thank you!

A PDF of this presentation, and a copy of the evaluation form used in my library school class is available on http://www.hyelibrarians.net/materials