Category: We Heart Health Literacy

How are you reading this right post now, dear reader? On a laptop? A smartphone? Your refrigerator, perhaps? Okay, probably not on your refrigerator, but you never know. Much in the way we can’t predict a person’s health literacy skills, it’s pretty much impossible to predict the device that users will be accessing health websites on these days.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to make sure your website will work well for all users on all their devices. Check out our tips.

• Test your site on a variety of devices. It seems like everything has a screen now (see above-referenced refrigerator) — and that means a lot of different screen sizes. Checking your site on a variety of screens can help troubleshoot problems before you get too far into site development.
• Content is king (and queen!). Remember that your content is the most important part of your site. So when you’re looking at your site on various screen sizes, pay special attention to how the content looks. Does anything important disappear on a small screen? Prioritize fixing that before fine-tuning the fancier design elements.
• Keep connection speed in mind. Internet speeds can vary a lot, so be sure to test your site with slower-than-ideal connection speeds. You don’t want someone to get frustrated and leave your site because the homepage is taking too long to load.
• Design for easy clicking. When designing buttons and links, remember that people might be clicking with lots of things — trackpads, mice (mouses?), tiny fingers, or giant thumbs. Will your elegant-yet-miniscule buttons be easy to tap on mobile screens? Probably not — so shoot for large, clearly-defined targets.

The bottom line: Design your website so people can read your content on a smart toaster in a remote mountain town. (We may get there sooner than you think.)

Tweet about it: 4 tips for making your #HealthLit site work for all devices: https://bit.ly/2uex3qc via @CommunicateHlth

True or false? As health communicators, it’s our job to clearly communicate what we know. Okay, that was a trick question. It’s true, of course — but it’s not the whole story. Why? Because it’s also our responsibility to clearly communicate what we don’t know.

In health communication, it can be tempting to steer clear of the unknown. When you want to be seen as an expert, putting what you don’t know in writing can feel a little “off script.” Public health authorities and organizations may worry that admitting what they don’t know will make them seem non-credible or untrustworthy.

But guess what? It’s actually the opposite! Being transparent and telling your audience what you don’t know can build trust in your health messages.

Say you’re writing a fact sheet with findings from a local environmental health assessment. Your audience is a community that’s located near a former factory, and residents have voiced specific health concerns that the assessment aimed to address.

In terms of results, you have a list of things you know for sure — for example, the water’s safe to drink. But the assessment also produced results that aren’t so clear — for example, it’s possible that the soil isn’t safe for growing food, and you need more tests to know for sure.

So, what do you say about those fuzzy findings? Just be direct: “We don’t have enough information to say for sure if the soil near the factory site is safe for growing vegetables. The health department wants to do more tests to find out.”

This kind of openness might seem radical — but in the absence of clear answers, full transparency is the way to go. So fight the urge to be vague or dodgy! Your audience will thank you for telling them the truth.

The bottom line: Transparency builds trust with readers — so embrace the unknown in your health writing.

Tweet about it: How do you talk about what you don’t know in #HealthLit content? Here’s @CommunicateHlth’s take: bit.ly/2Ms20O3

Today, dear readers, we’re talking about links in web content. Links make it easy for people to find more information about a topic of interest — and they can really impact how users navigate your website.

Here are our tips for creating effective links for your awesome plain language health content.

Make links easy to identify. Underlined blue text is the most obvious visual cue for a link. It’s okay to choose a different link design, but make sure it’s distinct from non-linked text — and use a single link design across your site. Don’t forget to choose a different color for visited links — that way, users can easily tell if they’ve already clicked a certain link.

Write helpful link text. The best link text gives users information about where the link will take them. That’s why we’ll ❤ you forever if you banish generic phrases like “click here” from your webcabulary — they tell users nothing about where a link goes.

Helpful link text is especially critical for users who are visually impaired and use screen readers to listen to a list of all linked phrases on a page. Can you imagine how (not) helpful such a list would be if every link said “click here” or “learn more”?

Pro tip: the best link text is both descriptive and actionable. What makes the user experience clearer than link text like, “Read more about diabetes”?

Use links strategically — and beware of link burnout. There’s no magic number for how many links are appropriate on a webpage, but be strategic and keep your users in mind. Try not to have so many links that the content starts to look wonky or difficult to follow.

Also, be mindful of how soon you send users to another page — while they’re reading the introduction of your content probably isn’t the best time for that.

Remember your friends on mobile (which is everyone). It’s always worth taking a look at how content will appear on mobile devices — this gives you a chance to make sure links appear in a way that lets mobile users navigate easily.

The bottom line: How you set up links in your web content really matters.

Tweet about it: Why “click here” just doesn’t click with users — and more #HealthLit tips for creating effective links: bit.ly/2K5zP77 via @CommunicateHlth

In this edition of the We ❤ Health Literacy Book Club, we’re talking about a book that challenges the way many people think about drug addiction and treatment.

Maia Szalavitz’s Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction deconstructs the traditional addiction model. Szalavitz suggests that addiction is not actually a disease, but rather a learning disorder that’s shaped by a person’s environment, repeated behaviors, and genetic predispositions.

Szalavitz, who overcame cocaine and heroin addiction, describes her journey through a 12-step program, the traditional treatment route. While this program has historically been the sole solution for treating addiction, Szalavitz stresses that this one size does not fit all.

She highlights several harm reduction programs that are based on the idea that people who use drugs can learn to make better choices if they’re taught to — and if they have adequate support. For example, needle exchange programs focus on reducing the negative effects of drug use — not preventing use altogether. There’s also Washington State’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, which connects nonviolent drug offenders to housing and other services in an effort to keep them out of the traditional criminal justice system.

This topic is extremely timely given today’s opioid crisis, which presents an ever-growing need for innovative health literacy solutions — and, as Szalavitz argues, for evidence-based policies that address addiction. Now is the perfect time for all of us who work in public health to challenge ourselves to think outside the box when it comes to understanding and treating drug addiction.

The bottom line: Unbroken Brain offers a new perspective on how we define and treat addiction, with a strong emphasis on compassion and respect.

Tweet about it: Check out a new way of defining and treating drug addiction in @maiasz’s “Unbroken Brain”: bit.ly/2y44Eau #HealthLit

In a break from our regularly scheduled programming, we’re here this week to explain a recent change to our emails. You may have noticed that the alt text for our newsletter image now appears underneath said image at the top of each email, and we thought you might be curious about this change. (Worry not if you need a reminder about what alt text is — we got you.)

After all, one could argue that the new way looks a bit clunky — and we agree that it’s not the ideal alt text scenario. But here’s the thing: on Medium, the site we now use to host We ❤ Health Literacy, it’s the only option. Medium doesn’t offer the standard feature where alt text shows up when you hover over the image.

We don’t know why that is — and we’ve reached out to Medium to plug the importance of alt text capability. We sure hope they’ll add the alt text feature soon, but for now, we have to choose between making our content accessible to all users and living with a slight cosmetic inconvenience.

As you can imagine, dear readers, that’s a no-brainer for us.

The bottom line: Why has alt text started appearing at the top of our emails? Because accessibility, of course.

Tweet about it: Why you’re seeing alt text at the top of @CommnicateHlth’s #HealthLit newsletter: bit.ly/2J62d8k #a11y

Have you ever opened a piece of mail from your credit card company and come up against an impenetrable wall of words that no average person could understand? How about going online to see what is and isn’t covered by your health care plan, only to get lost in a maze of confusing webpages?

Of course you have, dear readers — and so have we! Experiences like these are all too common, which makes any letter or website (or brochure or app or email) that is clearly written and well designed shine like a lighthouse over stormy seas.

Wouldn’t it be nice if someone recognized these beacons of clear communication for the exemplars that they are? Well, guess what — someone has!

Earlier this month, the Center for Plain Language named 14 winners at the annual ClearMark Awards. These awards recognize effective plain language writing and information design that help people find information, understand it, and act confidently based on what they’ve learned.

This year’s winners include a range of communication materials, from a knee surgery decision aid to a law school’s bylaws — and a peppy little newsletter that has a serious crush on health literacy (aw, shucks).

We encourage you to check out this year’s winners — and consider submitting something of your own next year!

The bottom line: The ClearMark Awards showcase achievements in plain language and clear design — thanks to the Center for Plain Language!

Tweet about it: Check out this year’s #ClearMark winners from @plain_language ‏for some sweet examples of #PlainLanguage & clear design! via @CommunicateHlth: https://bit.ly/2LqTvTG

As you doubtless already know, dear readers, Twitter has gone through some ch-ch-ch-changes (go ahead, belt it out!) in the past year. Last November, after a brief pilot period, Twitter switched for good to a higher character limit. This means we all have 280 characters available per tweet — instead of the original 140.

When this change hit, plenty of organizations pondered the implications of the added characters for their Twitter strategy. How would they approach this new limit? Were all those hours spent crafting 140-character tweets in vain? What did it all mean?!

Since then, it’s become clear that the expanded character count hasn’t affected much — at least when it comes to, well, character count. According to a recent remark from Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey, the average tweet length has remained basically the same since the change. This isn’t very surprising, since Twitter’s original trial of the new limit showed that only 5% of users took advantage of it.

But, Dorsey said, it looks like the expanded character count has positively affected engagement. With this bit of added breathing room, users are engaging more — for example, including more mentions. Since the switch, users are getting more followers and returning to Twitter more often. It’s the best of both worlds: tweets remain brief (which is what makes Twitter great!) and people are using the platform more.

So what’s a Twitter-using health communicator to do now? First, keep thinking of Twitter as a good way to share information and connect with your networks. And when it comes to writing tweets, take your cue from the general Twitter population: just because you can use an extra 140 characters doesn’t mean you should. Channel your pre-November 2017 self and keep your tweets short whenever you can.

The bottom line: Keep using Twitter to share important messages — and keep doing it with as few characters as possible.

Tweet about it: Let’s talk about those extra 140 characters. @CommunicateHlth has thoughts: bit.ly/2wQG3pb #HealthLit

Here at We ❤ Health Literacy Headquarters, we can get into zombies. There’s nothing like a horde of undead to spice up a chase scene — and they can even help us write more clearly! But did you know that zombie preparedness is now an accepted part of the health communication toolbox? That’s because if you’re talking about zombies instead of SARS or H1N1, people are more likely to perk up and learn something.

One zombie flick that really packs in the public health messaging is 2013’s World War Z. The heroes of this Hollywood blockbuster may be better looking than the average epidemiologist (ahem, Brad Pitt), but still — they’re public health professionals who collaborate across sectors and really save the day.

For starters, when zombies rudely interrupt Brad’s pleasant family outing, he gathers data (symptoms, incubation period, transmission vectors) to share with his buddies at the United Nations. Whether you’re faced with a nasty flu or a plague of corpses, sharing info helps you reach a solution faster.

Then, when the military runs out of options and all hope seems lost, what does our hero do? Why, he crash-lands a passenger jet full of zombies next door to a WHO facility, of course! Brad knows that in a pandemic, you want to talk to the people wearing lab coats — not flak jackets.

Here are a few more public health lessons from World War Z:

• Keep life-saving medicines with you at all times. A zombie apocalypse is no time to be without your asthma inhaler, but that’s the sticky situation Brad’s young daughter finds herself in. The family’s frantic hunt for albuterol in an overrun pharmacy serves as a reminder to check your supply of EpiPens, insulin, and any medicine that keeps you among the living.
• Be proactive. While most countries in the film brush off early reports of zombies as nonsense, Israel gets to work reaching out, gathering data, and preparing for the worst. In zombie movies, as in real life, it’s best not to wait around for Brad Pitt to tell you there’s a problem.
• Don’t build walls — build public health infrastructure. At first, Israel’s wall-building isolation strategy seems like a safe bet. But at some point, the zombies are coming over the wall. So ditch the flimsy fences and build the infrastructure that really guards against disease: strong public health organizations.
• Trust vaccines to shield you from diseases… and, you know, zombies. Brad’s final showdown with the zombies doesn’t involve weapons or gore. Instead, he shields himself with a vaccine — the only protection that can truly save us in a pandemic.

The bottom line: Watch World War Z to learn emergency preparedness (zombie-related and otherwise) and see why public health infrastructure is a real lifesaver.

Tweet about it: Why are zombie movies great for public health? @CommunicateHlth talks World War Z: https://bit.ly/2wuPJFr #HealthLit

Here at We ❤ Health Literacy Headquarters, we talk a lot about ways to communicate clearly. Usually, we’re talking about communicating health information to consumers. But sometimes, we like to explore how to apply the principles of health literacy to interactions in our very own workplaces.

In the first edition of Health Literacy in the Wild, we discussed giving clear feedback. This week, we’re tackling a common kind of communication that can also benefit from our best practices: email.

If you’re like us, dear readers, you spend a big chunk of your workday writing and reading (and occasionally ignoring) emails. To write emails that people will actually read and respond to, start by asking yourself these questions:

• What do I want this person to do? For example, if you need a colleague to review a document, plan to make a clear ask. Being specific about what you want will help you get what you need.
• Is email the right tool for the job? Sometimes, picking up the phone or sending an IM is a better way to communicate. This may be especially true if you need to discuss something sensitive or complicated.

When you’ve decided an email is the way to go, use these tips to write it:

• Make the most of your subject line. Write a brief, descriptive subject line. Want your reader to do something? Say it in the subject line — for example, “For your review: Awesome health literacy-related thingy.”
• Get right to the point. Say what you need in the first few lines of your message. Want a response by a certain date? Need an answer to a question? Take a hint from the health literacy playbook and put the most important information first.
• Keep it short. Stick with short sentences and short paragraphs (3 to 5 sentences max). If you’re struggling to write the email because you have so much to say, think about picking up the phone or setting up a meeting instead.
• Use bulleted lists. Don’t send a wall of text. If you need to include lots of details, list them out. This organizes the information so your reader can easily skim what you want them to know.
• It’s okay to repeat yourself. We empower you to repeat important phone numbers, dates, and times — ‘cause, you know, attention spans. (Pro tip: Consider bolding key elements for emphasis.)
• Take the time to proofread. Before you hit send, read your email all the way through. Check for typos or confusing sentences. Think about your tone, too — if your reader could misinterpret your intent or emotions, take the time to rephrase.

The bottom line: Put your health literacy skills to work when writing emails. Your colleagues will thank you!

Tweet about it: Want to write emails that people actually read and respond to? @CommunicateHlth draws inspiration from the #HealthLit playbook: https://bit.ly/2I0HYJJ