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What is health literacy?
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It is increasingly important to have the skills to locate, understand, and properly use information of all kinds, especially when it comes to health information. It can be hard to know not only how to find reliable, trustworthy health information but also to understand and use that information. This post will talk about patient health literacy, which is how individuals find, understand, and make informed decisions based on health information. A big part of health literacy is understanding how to find trustworthy, reliable information. One of the biggest tips is to evaluate your information. Here is a way to do that using the SIFT method: S: stop! Before you read, watch, or listen further, or before you share the information, STOP. Then follow the following steps. I: investigate the source. Look up the author/creator. Look up the source. You’re going to ask yourself questions like: Who created this and what are their credentials? When it comes to medical information you want to see if they have a degree/credentials, what type of work they do, if they seem to be approaching the topic with personal interest or bias. What can you find out about the source? Here you’re going to look at the sources/organizations/groups’ mission, where they’re getting their money, who sits on their board, etc. Go beyond the source website! What do others say about them? We’re looking for…extreme bias, vetted interest, authority. F: find better coverage. This means, can you find other sources that back up claims in the original source or ones that debunk claims? Use fact checkers, like factcheck.org or Poltifact; ask your professors or your librarians; do more research. T: trace quotes, claims, and any linked sources. If there are no sources available, especially for medical information, this is not trustworthy information! You want to ask questions like: is the information or quote being used out of context or to support bias? Is there information missing from the original quote, information, or source? Not sure if you can trust the source? Ask! The library is here for just this reason. |