Health Insurance Literacy Measure †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Health Insurance Literacy Measure. Answer: Introduction According to Schottler (2015), health literacy is defined as the degree to which an individual have the ability and capacity of obtaining, processing, and understanding the basic health information as well as the services needed in making appropriate decisions in the health industry. The ability to take care of ourselves is very essential in life. However, there is a need of being able to manage, prevent, or understand any health complications that arise in the environment around us. As a result, health literacy is an essential component. This essay describes the crucial relationship and importance of health literacy in ensuring effective communication within a culturally diverse healthcare system. It also focuses on the strategies that can be adopted in enhancing effective health literacy and communication in such a diverse community. Crucial relationship and importance of health literacy In a systematic review, Talley (2016) points out that health literacy is often based on systematic and individual factors that govern its effectiveness. For instance, the skills of communication between the healthcare professionals and the lay person, lay and professional know-how or knowledge on various facets of health fields, the culture, demand for public health systems and healthcare, as well as the demand of the situations. As a result, Osborn (2014) points out that health literacy affects the ability of an individual to share individual information such as their health history with the providers as well as understanding mathematically related health issues such as health risks and the probability of infections within the diverse environment. In a diverse community, there exists a metropolitan kind of a system where cultural understanding is diverse and individuals have different kinds of beliefs concerning certain infections, an aspect that is also determined mainly by the cul tural value aspects of the community as pointed out by Leung, Cheung, and Chi (2014). In such an environment, there is a very close relationship between health literacy and effective communication to ensure that healthcare goals are achieved. In other words, with effective communication on health literacy, the diverse community can easily navigate through the healthcare systems while engaging in essential in vital self-care knowledge such as person-centered care for chronic infections, causes of disease outbreaks and infections, etc. In his study, Talley (2016) also affirms that effective communication concerning health issues within a diverse community mainly depends on health literacy. In addition to health skills, for instance, health literacy also require a diverse environment to have knowledge of different health topics. In other words, individuals with limited health literacy often have misinformation of lack knowledge concerning the body as well as the causes and the nature of infections, an aspect that greatly affects effective communication in health literacy. In support of the assertion, Osborn (2014) affirms that without the knowledge, people may not have a clear understanding of the relationship between the various health outcomes and lifestyle factors such as exercise and diet. According to Vallance (2016) effectively communicating information can be achieved when an individual has the basic knowledge of the information he is willing to share to avoid misinterpretation of information which can be very dangerous when it comes to healthcare. However, it is also noted that health information can as well overwhelm individuals with advanced literacy skills hence affecting effective communication. Behind this factor is the continuous progress and advancement in the medical knowledge and health sciences. Effective communication and health literacy in a diverse environment thus require a healthcare professional to keep an update of their healthcare knowledge to ensure they remain relevant not only to the health information they give but on their career as well. Diversity in an environment also affects how people understand, relate, communicate, and respond to health information. Pleasant (2014) denotes that linguistic and cultural competency of a healthcare provider directly contributes to health literacy in such a diverse environment. To effectively communicate, the professionals, organizations, and practitioners have to recognize the diversity in the cultural values, beliefs, language preferences, traditions, attitudes, and health practices of a diverse population. With this kind of knowledge, they can effectively communicate the right information that at the end will produce a positive and essential health outcome within the diverse environment. Therefore, achieving effective communication in healthcare requires the practitioners to communicate in a manner that is culturally and linguistically appropriate to promote health literacy in a diverse community. Challenges and complications with health literacy affect almost everyone, but the chronically ill and the elderly in the community are at the highest risk levels. In fact, Pleasant (2014) denotes that poor health literacy in a community has a very strong influence in predicting the health of an individual than the income, age, employment status, race, and education level as is often believed by many people in a diverse environment. According to Kim and Nguyen (2014), health literacy is very important in achieving a successful use and access to healthcare services. For instance, dealing with chronic and long-terms health complications such as diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, etc, and maintenance of wellness in a community can only be achieved with an effective health literacy. The patient or the family will thus be able to understand the need of medication other than having a traditional belief such as witchcraft as is often common in a diverse community as pointed out by Ganach ari (2014). They can understand when the symptoms occur and engage on the possible cause that will need them to seek medical attention from the relevant healthcare practitioners. In a systematic review, Vallance (2016) also denotes that health literacy is essential to healthcare that requires individuals to pursue a more active role in the management and healthcare decisions. Health literacy is also essential as it enables an individual to have the ability to find the right information on the health services they need. In other words, health literacy enables people to communicate their health preferences and needs while effectively processing the usefulness and meaning of the available services within their reach. With effective health literacy, an individual, as well as the community, can effectively understand their health choices as well as the possible consequences of their actions in deciding the information and services that match their health needs. Health literacy accompanied by effective communication skills are hence essential in ensuring positive health outcomes within a diverse environment where patients and the community, in general, have different opinions concerning the health issues affecting them. Strategies for effective health literacy According to Braun and Coleman (2012), low health literacy is often associated with negative health outcomes on the health status of the community and their use of the available healthcare systems. A diverse community with low levels of health literacy will make poor health decisions or may fail to effectively follow medication instructions as well as the recommended healthcare behaviors. Manganello et al. (2016) hence denote that it is the responsibility of the healthcare practitioners within such environments to identify the health literacy needs of the community and effective measures are adopted to promote or improve the situation for a better healthcare. Effective health literacy can this be achieved by educating the community and patients, in general, using effective resources that can be understood easily. Creating awareness is also an effective strategy that can be adopted to help the community understand the basic knowledge of the causes and spread of infections, an aspect that is essential in boosting person-centered care on different aspects of the healthcare systems. However, the objectives of creating awareness in a diverse environment can only be achieved through effective communication skills to ensure the public effectively comprehend the healthcare information. Allen et al. (2016) also recommends that the strategies adopted to improve health literacy in a diverse community can only be effective when healthcare practitioners adopt learning skills that can establish a better understand and positive relationship with the community. Developing a positive relationship with the community is vital in encouraging the community to abandon their beliefs, values, and traditions and embrace effective health literacy skills that can encourage their acceptance and participation for better healthcare. Conclusion From the analysis of the different aspects of health literacy and effective communication in a diverse environment, it is clear that healthcare practitioners often have their language and culture. As a result, many of them will adopt the culture of medicine in relation to the language of the health profession or specialty due to the training they go through as well as the working environment. It is an aspect that has both direct and indirect influence on effective communication between the practitioners and the public in a diverse community. On the other hand, many individuals often have limited English proficiency and hence become a primary barrier to health care services and information for effective communication in a diverse environment. For such individuals, health care practitioners need to understand that they should plainly communicate in their primary language using examples and words that can make the information more understandable. Low health literacy and ineffective comm unication can as well lead to poor or negative outcomes in health leading to higher hospitalization rates and reduction in the use of preventive care services in a diverse environment. References Allen, C. G., McBride, C. M., Balcazar, H. G., Kaphingst, K. A. (2016). Community Health Workers: An Untapped Resource to Promote Genomic Literacy.Journal Of Health Communication,2125-29. doi:10.1080/10810730.2016.1196272 Braun, B., Coleman, C. (2012). What Do Health Literacy and Cultural Competence Have in Common? 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