Meeting 5/19-23/2012: Health
Literacy Research Here
I share with you my notes from a rapid-fire series of presentations by
international experts in health literacy research followed by lively thoughtful
discussions and creative tension between researchers and practitioners. We
need evidence. But do not get
hung up on evidence. Evidence is lacking on all aspects of what we do. Intervention
is deliberate interruption. The
Course of Research: Define the problem. Develop the solution. Test the intervention. Replicate the intervention. The
Process of Evaluation Research: Qualitative
data makes sense from quantitative data. Evaluations need both. 1. Feasibility
studies with the target groups. Test messages 2. Theory,
Logic Model 3. Process
evaluation during implementation 4. Qualitative
interviews re use, clarity of message. Are theory and effects consistent? All stages of evaluation involve the
stakeholders Programs
fail for 4 reasons: Process Failure: Intervention was not
delivered as planned (a problem
for scale-up) Theory Failure: Absence of theoretical frame (common in health literacy
interventions) Measurement Failure: Measurement error
- measured the wrong thing, or the instrument
did not measure what it said it did. (common in health literacy) Research Design Failure Health
literacy research needs to inform interventions to address the social
determinants of health. The
determinants are complex; so interventions and evaluations are necessarily
complex. UK Research Council published a
framework for complex intervention studies. See the British Medical Journal Cost
of a program is 20 to 50 times the cost of research to demonstrate what
works. Ask: Where and when is
implementation an idea who time has come? Be
open to industry as a long term partner. Bring forward looking companies
and their expertise into the debate. You cannot change Burger King by bashing
them. Public/private collaboration requires de-medicalizing our language, clarifying
our messages, principle-based and pragmatic approaches. Phillip Morris is expert in behavior
change. We can learn from them the use of education, persuasion, environment,
policy, funding and the long term view Ethnicity
is the embodiment of difference. Recording and drawing conclusions based on
ethnicity raises deep ethical questions for research. Outcome
measures drive intervention. What we measure determines what we find out
about what works and who should do it |
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CategoriesHealth LiteracyMaternal Child Health Test |
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