According to the National Institute for Education Statistics, an estimated 40 to 44 million people in the United States, nearly a quarter of the adult population, have low literacy skills. Given the pervasiveness of low literacy, many designers of health programs and research studies want to make their materials more literacy accessible, though most need more information about how to do so.
Low literacy represents a major health problem, and an often overlooked problem for researchers.
Low literacy should also be controlled for in many studies, because it is linked with poor health outcomes and higher health care expenses, because of delayed care seeking and greater outpatient service utilization and hospitalizations. People with low literacy skills may also have difficulty understanding health messages, since many educational materials use text. Researchers, educators and others in the health system may be unaware of a patient's reading or comprehension problems. The field of health and literacy research is relatively new but is rapidly expanding, particularly in the area of health education. Weiss BD, Hart G, McGee DL, and D'Estelle.