Health Communication and Chickenpox Vaccine

Study Notes

Healthcare and public health systems heavily rely on printed materials, including medical history forms, insurance forms, informed consent forms, patient rights and responsibilities, test results, directions to the lab or pharmacy, hospital discharge and home care instructions, and clinical research protocols and announcements.

Chickenpox (varicella) is a common childhood disease that can be mild but serious, especially for infants and adults. It causes rash, itching, fever, and tiredness. It can cause severe skin infection, scarring, pneumonia, brain damage, or even death.
The virus spreads through the air or contact with fluid from chickenpox blisters.
A person who had chickenpox can experience shingles later.
Before the vaccine, about 11,000 people were hospitalized annually for chickenpox in the US. Before the vaccine, about 100 people died annually in the US from chickenpox.
The vaccine can prevent chickenpox. Most people vaccinated won't get chickenpox. But if they do, it is usually mild with fewer blisters, less fever and faster recovery.

Health literacy is the ability of individuals to find, understand, and use health-related information and services to make decisions and take actions for themselves and others.
Organizational health literacy is the degree to which organizations enable individuals to understand and use health information and services.
Numeracy skills are part of health literacy. Examples include: calculating cholesterol, measuring medications, understanding nutrition labels.
Populations most likely to experience low health literacy include older adults, racial and ethnic minorities, people with less than a high school degree or GED certificate, people with low incomes, non-native English speakers, and people with compromised health status. Factors affecting this include education, language, culture, access to resources, and age.
Only 12% of adults have proficient health literacy. 14% (30 million people) have below basic health literacy.

The readability of printed health materials is determined by the number of difficult words (common words with 3+ syllables), sentence length, and organization. Tools like Flesch-Kincaid readability formula, FOG formula, and Fry formula help assess readability.
Adults at all reading skill levels prefer information designed at an easier-to-understand level.