The Horowitz Center is proud to offer a curated collection of Dr. Rima Rudd's original health literacy resources, along with the essential text, Teaching Patients with Low Literacy Skills by Doak, Doak, and Root. Dr. Rudd is a founding health literacy scholar and in 2023, transitioned to Emerita Faculty, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. We are committed to keeping Dr. Rudd's work easily available to researchers, educators, and students.
Introduction: Expanded Concept of Health Literacy
This section includes materials that explain Dr. Rudd's critique of blaming people for limited literacy and numeracy and offers a call to action for professional responsibility to communicate clearly.
Tools: Organizational Health Literacy
Dr. Rudd pioneered the method to systematically examine organizational and health professional practices and identify health literacy barriers. This knowledge informs plans of action to remove those barriers.
Tools: Materials Assessment
Written and oral communication of health information to the public is a key public health activity. Health professionals need the knowledge and skills to use plain language and other techniques to communicate clearly with diverse audiences. Dr. Rudd's tools, along with the essential text from Doak, Doak , and Root, can help professionals develop into clear communicators.
Foundations in Literacy Research
Dr. Rudd's deep knowledge of and contributions to adult literacy and numeracy research inform her work on health literacy. This section includes foundational texts that show the links between adult literacy and numeracy and their impact on health.