Support the health literacy of clients – Canberra Health Literacy

How can I support the health literacy of clients?

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8 minutes

Community services and workers provide essential support to people who face high demands on their health literacy. The term “health literacy” might be new to you, but practices that support health literacy may be very familiar. These include:

Running health improvement programs, like nutrition and cooking workshops, exercise programs and falls prevention activities
Running information sessions on health topics. You can contact HCCA about running a free session for your group.
Teaching people how to use digital tools like apps and websites
Helping people make and get to appointments
Helping people to fill in forms
Helping people to manage their health and medications
Helping people to navigate health and social care systems
Organising respite so carers can prioritise their health

You can help service users to improve their health literacy by encouraging them to:

Be informed

Encourage them to find out as much as they can about their health and available treatments and service, using reliable sources. This could be a General Practitioner (GP), pharmacist or other health professional.

Help them understand any medical terms used. You could use this list, which explains medical terms simply.

Encourage them to use reliable online information as well. You can find out more about how to find good, reliable health information on our Finding good health information page.

Some trusted health websites include:

Health Direct: An Australian Government website with reliable health information. Look up medicines, check symptoms and find the closest health service. Health Direct also includes a 24-hour telephone health advice line that operates seven days a week – 1800 022 222. It is staffed by registered nurses. You can call for advice if a client is feeling ill and is unsure what to do, or for health information on a specific condition.
Health Translations: A free library of Australian multilingual health and wellbeing information. All resources are checked by experts and come from trusted sources.
Better Health Channel. A source of easy to understand, quality-assured, reliable and up-to-date health, medical and healthy lifestyle information, including about complementary and alternative supplements and therapies.
MyDr website: Provides reliable health information on symptoms, diseases, tests, investigations, medicines and treatments. Also provides health tools and calculators.

Be organised

It’s important to keep an up to date list of medications, vitamins and supplements, allergies and a health summary. This will help if your client needs an ambulance or doctor urgently.

Encourage them to keep all their current medical information together so that it is easy to find. This includes things like referrals, prescriptions, test results, scans and x-rays. It is also important that out of date information is removed and either thrown away or stored separately.

Prescriptions for medications they no longer use should be clearly marked as not current. Any unused medication can be safely disposed of by returning it to a pharmacist. This is a free service.

Keep important contact details handy – on the fridge, or near a phone. This may be a GP, emergency contacts or neighbours. The ACT Ambulance Service has medical information cards that can fold up to go in a wallet.

Encourage them to ask their pharmacist about a medicine tracking app or use a daily medication list like:

The safe use of medicines page has more tips and sources of reliable information about medicines.

Be prepared

Encourage your client to be clear about why they are seeing a doctor or other health professional, why they are having a test, and what they need to do to prepare properly for the test.

It can help to work out and write down what their symptoms are and any recent changes. They can take any records they have of tests or diagnoses from other medical practitioners – not all health services use the digital health record, and it may not be up to date.

You can suggest or help them to collect this information in a folder that they can take to the appointment – with a list of important information and questions on a single page at the front. They can give the list to the doctor to help make sure they cover all the important issues.

Templates like HCCA’s Simple Medical Summary and Appointment Notes can help them put all the important information in one place.

Your clients might also need to think about who will make choices for them if they are not well enough to speak for themselves. You can share information about Advance Care Planning to help them make their choices known.

Ask questions

Encouraging clients to ask questions when they see a doctor or other health provider means they can get the information they need, and helps you to give them the right support and assistance.

There are lots of tools that help people ask health questions, and record the answers.

Healthdirect’s Question Builder – This is a free web-based tool to help prepare for a medical appointment and make the best use of the time with the doctor. You can print or email the questions to take to the appointment.
Ask Me Three – Three simple questions to ask a doctor at every appointment. They are good to know in case you don’t have time to prepare. Encourage your client to write down the answers so they can share the right information with family or carers.
Ask Share Know – Three questions to ask when someone has to make a decision about their health. It could be a choice between tests or procedures, or to get more information about a diagnosis and what to do next.
Choosing Wisely Australia recommends asking 5 questions before agreeing to any test or treatment. Some tests, treatments, and procedures don’t always provide much benefit and in some cases they can even cause harm. Asking these 5 questions can help make sure your client ends up with the right care:

1. Do I really need this test or procedure?
2. What are the risks?
3. Are there simpler or safer options?
4. What happens if I don’t do anything?
5. What are the costs?

When a client needs to make a big decision, you can share decision aids to help them break it down so they can think about the risks and benefits of each option what support they might need.

Be supported

Encourage your client to take a support person to appointments. This could be a family member, friend, or a carer.

They can provide encouragement to ask questions, write notes and help remember what was discussed and what the next steps are, be an advocate if needed, or just be there for emotional support. Depending on your role, you might attend appointments with a client as a support person or advocate.

There may be more services or groups that can help. Consumer groups and specialist organisations can provide information and support. For example:

Carers ACT
COTA – Council of The Ageing ACT
ADACAS – The A.C.T. Disability, Aged and Carer Advocacy Service (ADACAS), is an independent, not-for-profit, advocacy organisation helping people with disabilities, older people and carers.

Find a Health Service To help find a health or allied health service in the ACT.

Healthy Living is an ACT Government website that has information on healthy living, activities and programs in Canberra.

Other things you can do…

There are many evidence-based tools and strategies that you can use to support health literacy when working with clients. Some of these include:

Motivational interviewing
Teach back is a technique that can be used to check that your client has understood information you have given them. It is widely promoted for use in health settings, but it is a method that can be used in any setting and for any information.
Building self efficacy and supporting self management

You can also help clients build skills and capacity by connecting them with existing programs like:

Canberra Health Services’ Take Control – Live Well program that helps people with chronic health conditions build self-management skills.
Good Things Australia’s free skills library of videos, online courses and guides on a wide range of digital skills.
COTA ACT’s Get IT mentors for 1-on-1 help with digital skills like downloading apps, using QR codes and accessing government services.

Check out the Health Literacy for Consumers and Carers section for more information you can share.