Definition of Terms

Health literacy is the ability to obtain, understand, evaluate, and use health information to improve health care and disease in daily lifepreventioninterpoint (interword separation)health promotionthroughout their lives, using it in situations oflivingIt is the ability to maintain and improve the quality of Utilization is thedecision-makingIn other words, it is a process of choosing one of two or more alternatives, learning the pros and cons of each of the available options, and clarifying the values of what is important.

Explanation of Terms

The ability to understand health information was called functional health literacy; Nutbeam adds to that,health promotionThe first is interactional health literacy as the ability to obtain and utilize the support of those around you, even if you can understand the information, because you often need the support of those around you to actually change your behavior. The second is interactional health literacy, which is the ability to change behavior when such support is not available, by providing support to those around them and to others in order to facilitate behavior change.environmentThese are critical health literacy as the ability to work toward These are the skills of empowerment, i.e., the ability to work on one's own life andlivingThis emphasizes the ability to control the
Thus, by developing a definition of health literacy, people havehealthScales have been developed to visualize the power to functional health literacy as well as diverse health issue-specific scales and,health promotionMore comprehensive scales have been developed that include A survey using a comprehensive scale in Europe found that health literacy deficiencies accounted for about 50%, indicating the need for social and political action (Sorensen et al., 2012). A survey in Japan using the same scale reported that more than 80% were deficient, the lowest when compared to the combined results in Asia (Nakayama et al., 2015). In Japan, even understanding, but not evaluation ordecision-makingDifficulties were found in the following areas. Therefore, as one measure to improve health literacy in Japan, an attempt is being made to disseminate "ka-chi-mo-nai" (who wrote it, comparison with different information, original source, what for, when), a method of evaluating the reliability of information, which is practiced by those with higher levels of it but not learned by many people in school or at work, and "o-chi-mo-nai" (how to make decisions in your own way) (who wrote it, how it compares to other information, what it is from, what it is for, when). Attempts are underway to disseminate the "o-chi-ta-ka" (options [choices], pros, cons, values) method of making decisions (on the chest or in the belly) (Nakayama, 2022).
Health literacy considerations by health care providerscommunicationIn the "Standard Precautions" section, it is assumed that all patients and citizens have low health literacy, and the use of teach-back (a method of having the subject explain what he/she has said to confirm understanding) is recommended as a standard preventive measure. In addition, shared decision making (collaborative decision making), which utilizes decision aids (decision guides) to clarify values by listing options and their advantages and disadvantages, is desired to support decision making that is unique to the individual. SuchcommunicationA health literate professional or organization is a professional or organization that can
In order to create a health literate society, it is necessary to guarantee good communication through the development of guidelines, the creation of places that take health literacy into consideration, and policies at the local, national, and international levels.

Citations and References

1) Kazuhiro Nakayama. Future Health Literacy, Kodansha, 2022.
2) Fukuda, Hiroshi, and Yasumasa Eguchi, eds. Health literacy: New key words for health education. Daishukan Shoten, 2016.
3) Nakayama K, et al. Comprehensive health literacy in Japan is lower than in Europe: a validated Japanese-language assessment of health literacy. BMC Public Health, 15:505, 2015.
4) Nakayama K, Yonekura Y, Danya H, et al. Associations between health literacy and information-evaluation and decision-making skills in Japanese adults. BMC Public Health. 22:1473, 2022.
5) Nutbeam, D. Health literacy as a public health goal: a challenge for contemporary health education and communication strategies into the 21st century. Health Promotion International, 15: 259-267, 2000. 6) Sørensen, K. et al. Health literacy and public health: a systematic review and integration of BMC Public Health, 12:80, 2012.