Health Literacy Guiding Principles to Implement Health Equity
Every organization that creates and delivers public health information needs guiding principles about health literacy. The Horowitz Center for Health Literacy and Head Start’s National Center on Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety (NCHBHS) developed health literacy guiding principles and toolkits to help Head Start programs put health literacy into practice. NCHBHS designs evidence-based resources and delivers innovative training and technical assistance to build the capacity of Head Start early childhood programs.
Health literacy is an important strategy for program staff and families to enhance the quality of communication, reduce health disparities, and advance health equity in early childhood programs. By adopting and applying the guiding principles, early childhood programs improve staff and families’ abilities to make informed health-related decisions and actions and evaluate their progress.
The toolkit for the Training and Technical Assistance Centers and Head Start program managers include skill development, learning activities and resources to build knowledge and skills in best practices for organizational health literacy so programs can provide health information that families understand and can use to manage their health.
The toolkit is for Head Start program families. The toolkit helps families develop skills to search for and find health information online, make the most of health care visits and engage with their healthcare providers.