Design for the Illiterate: A Scoping Review of Tools for Improving the Health Literacy of Electronic Health Resources

Abstract

Nearly 1 in 5 people living in the United States cannot read at even a basic level, a condition which greatly affects health outcomes. Despite this, most electronic health resources are reliant not only on text, but on complex reading and text manipulation that may result in poorer outcomes and reduced usage by patients with reduced literacy. This paper aims to synthesize findings and best practices across health literacy research, product design and games for health to support the development of electronic health resources which are less reliant on text to communicate health information. This synthesis involves the implantation of visual means of communication, as well as leveraging the strengths of planned interactions modeled after patient-caregiver communication. Through adopting these techniques, it is hoped that the concept of a health-literate system of healthcare can be extend from direct care settings and into the electronic design space.