Provide health information that is easy to find, understand, and use.
An understanding of health literacy leads to effective communication with families. Choose materials on topics that are relevant to the families and communities you serve.
Apply the health literacy guiding principles to the health and safety resources you share. This ensures that the information is accurate, accessible, and actionable.
Health Communication Definition
Health communication is a key strategy to inform the public about health concerns and keep important health issues on the public agenda. It uses mass media, multimedia, and technological innovations to disseminate useful health information to the public. These tools also raise awareness for specific aspects of individual and collective health. Effective health communication also promotes the importance of healthy behaviors. The best health communication uses members of the intended audience to help develop messages.
Skill Development
Read Choosing Written Materials to learn best practices and key factors when selecting plain language materials. Plain language content is clear, concise, well-organized, and follows other best practices appropriate to the subject or field and intended audience. Plain language is communication your audience can understand the first time they read or hear it.
Learning Activity
Assess the literacy level of the families in your program. Use plain language in health information you give to families and staff. Consider the literacy level and plain language of resources before sending them as another best practice that increases families' ability to use resources. By understanding plain language principles, programs are better able to choose useful materials and create effective communications.
Choose a health-related webpage or resource your program usually shares with families and staff. Review it for plain language using the CDC’s Plain Language Checklist.
Resources
For more information about plain language, check out the Federal Plain Language Guidelines. They were developed to support clear writing so that an organization’s audience can find what they need, understand what they find, and use what they find.
Here is where you can find more plain language tips and best practices:
Last Updated: March 4, 2024