Tufts Medicine offers tools, resources to reduce health literacy barriers

The Tufts Medicine Center for Health Literacy Research + Practice works to reduce health literacy barriers for patients, families, clinicians and health care organizations. Its faculty, staff and affiliates develop, evaluate and disseminate new and effective health literacy interventions and maintain an online Health Literacy Tool Shed with information, measures, instruments and other resources. The center also leads an annual virtual conference.

The center’s work is based on several core beliefs:
 

• Health literacy is essential for self-determination and to ensure everyone can access and understand the health information and services they need.
• Health literacy — including numeracy and insurance literacy — reduces costs and improves care quality.
• Critical health literacy helps combat false or misleading information.
• Strengthening health literacy restores public trust in science and builds trustworthy hospitals and health systems.

Key approaches include:

• Conducting innovative research with interdisciplinary teams.
• Supporting education, training and professional development in health literacy.
• Promoting community engagement by leveraging existing resources and creating new ones.

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