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The ability to read and understand medication instructions is a form of health literacy. Health literacy encompasses a wide range of skills, and competencies that people develop over their lifetimes to seek out, comprehend, evaluate, and use health information and concepts to make informed choices, reduce health risks, and increase quality of life.
Low literacy within a population is a relevant concern, since at the most basic level, mental health literacy is linked to general literacy. Without this foundation, the beneficial effects of mental health literacy are challenging for those who face difficulties with reading and writing. [ 8 ]
The Internet is widely used by the general public as a tool for finding health information. [1] In the late 1990s, researchers noted an increase in Internet users' access to health-related content despite the variation in the quality of information, level of accessibility, and overall health literacy. [2]
Independent assessments have been made of the number and demographics of people who seek health information on Wikipedia, the scope of health information on Wikipedia, and the quality and reliability of the information on Wikipedia. [2] The English Wikipedia was estimated in 2014 to hold around 25,000 articles on health-related topics. [3]
43% of adults at the lowest level of literacy lived below the poverty line, as opposed to 4% of those with the highest levels of literacy. [8] The National Center for Education Statistics provides more detail. [10] Literacy is broken down into three parameters: prose, document, and quantitative literacy.
Data analysis shows that lack of safety and health education, poor communications and human factors are a root-causal factor in a significantly high number of all recorded accidents globally. [16] Within employment, poor OSH literacy skills and human factors are the root-causal factor in a significantly high percentage of accidents.
Social media is proven to be useful for various chronic and incurable diseases where patients form groups and connect for sharing of knowledge. [4] Similarly, health professionals, health institutions, and various other individuals and organizations have their own social media accounts for health information, awareness, guidance, or motivation for their patients. [5]
Psychological literacy is "the general capacity to adaptively and intentionally apply psychology to meet personal, professional, and societal needs" (McGovern et al. 2010). This includes thinking, acting, and communicating effectively using psychological science .