Tips for Teaching Health Literacy 

After conducting health literacy trainings with over 300 healthcare providers, social service providers, and public health professionals, we have learned some things which helped us and we hope will help you, too. Here are some tips as you begin to raise awareness about health literacy with your colleagues, within your organization, or with healthcare providers.

Assess Audience Knowledge  

Assessing your audience’s knowledge before you start teaching them about health literacy can help in two ways. If your training program or intervention has metrics you are trying to reach assessing your audience’s knowledge both before and after your presentation can be very useful. This can provide you with useful feedback to enhance your presentation.

Gain Audience Interest  

One way to increase attendance at and participation throughout your presentation is to gain interest from your audience. This can be done in several ways, from advertising your valuable training via email beforehand to providing incentives for attendees. 

Spreading the word about the training you are providing is an important step to gaining interest in it. Try posting flyers, sending out emails, leveraging your communication team’s contacts, or having leadership mention the importance of your training to increase awareness and interest.

Learning Activities

Before beginning your training, think of some activities that might help your audience better understand the information and might appeal to people with different learning styles. In our trainings, we used plain language practice and role-playing teach-back method activities to enhance our audience’s knowledge about health literacy.

Engaging Your Audience Virtually  

When your audience is virtual and quiet with their cameras off, engaging with them can be very difficult. We recommend having interactive activities throughout your presentation, such as discussion or group work, and letting your audience know about the interactivity at the beginning of your presentation. Consider asking that all audience members turn on their cameras so you have face-to-face connection through the screen and can see their reactions as you teach.

Encouraging Questions and Participation

Just as healthcare providers should always encourage their patients to ask questions, we should encourage our audience to do the same. Ask “What questions do you have?” throughout or near the end of your presentation and give them some time to think about it. They will usually have some question for you, which could lead to a great conversation.

Sharing Resources and Materials  

Sharing the resources you used, activities you created, and materials you found helpful is always a good idea. Sometimes a participant may ask you if you’re willing to share your slides and resources, but even if they don’t, it’s good to let them know you’re happy to do so. Always include your contact information in the presentation so participants can reach out later if they have any additional questions or want more information.