Running head: HEALTHY PEOPLE 2020 COMMUNICATION PROJECT
HEALTHY PEOPLE 2020 COMMUNICATION PROJECT 4
Healthy People 2020 Assessment & Diagnosis
Marian University
Healthy People 2020 Topic
The Healthy People 2020 topic we chose is Health Communication and Health Information Technology.
Healthy People 2020 Objective
The specific Healthy People 2020 objective we chose to focus on is to improve the health literacy of the population.
Target Population
The target population for this Healthy People 2020 objective is non-native English speakers.
Topic Analysis
Health literacy is the capability of achieving necessary health information and services and a person’s understanding of them. This includes access to understandable information, communication with providers in managing a disease and living a healthy lifestyle, and the knowledge of medical words or how the healthcare system works. Factors that influence a person’s health literacy include personal factors, which are education level, language, race and ethnicity, age, and social economic status and genetics.
Goal
The goal of this topic is to use health communication strategies and health information technology to improve population health outcomes and health care quality, and to achieve health equity.
Researched Literature
Based on my research, health literacy is a priority for Healthy People 2020 because more than 90 million adults in the United States have below basic health literacy. This affects their ability to make healthy decisions and manage chronic diseases leading to overall poor health outcomes, higher rates of hospitalization, and less frequent use of preventative services. In turn, these issues are associated with overall higher healthcare costs. According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, only 12% of adults have a proficient understanding of health literacy, which means 9 out of 10 adults lack the necessary skills in proper health management and disease prevention.
The topic of health communication and health information technology is important and has been identified as a priority for HP 2020 because of the number of people who have low health literacy in this country. One of the overarching goals of Healthy People 2020 is “to achieve health equity, eliminate disparities, and improve the health of all groups” (Healthy People 2020). In order to attain that goal, we need to improve health literacy in this county, especially among different racial and ethnic groups. It is important because these are the groups that are most affected by low health literacy levels. According to multiple studies done on the topic, the results showed that “individuals that are socioeconomically disadvantaged, immigrants, elderly, from rural areas, and belonging to racial/ethnic minority groups are at greater risk for limited health literacy” (Parker, Wolf, & Kirsch, 2008).
Health literacy has been identified as a priority for HP2020 because health literacy improvement is central in achieving...
