Health Literacy Education: For Parents of Children Preschool Aged and Younger

Purpose: The purpose of health literacy education is to increase an individual’s understanding of health and use of the healthcare system. Low health literacy is associated with misuse of healthcare resources and misunderstanding of healthcare teaching. Education has demonstrated efficacy in improving health literacy. A personalized educational program was provided to parents of Head Start children, offered in Spanish and English, and at a 3rd to 5th education level.

Design: Using an established program for health literacy education, a Doctor of Nursing Practice project was implemented. The effect the program had on increasing the health literacy of participants over a period of 4 weeks was examined. The predominately, Latina participants received three hours of instruction based upon the health literacy book “What to do When Your Child Gets Sick”.

Setting and Subjects: The educational program took place in a large, urban county in the Southwestern United States with 24 parents of preschool age children in Head Start.

Intervention: The educational program contained three hours of classroom instruction utilizing PowerPoint® presentation, demonstration, and teach-back techniques on how to care for a child’s healthcare needs.

Measures and Analysis: Pre-, post- and telephone surveys were used to assess the impact of the health literacy educational program. Wilcoxon and Freidman tests were used to interpret the results.

Results: Despite no significant increases in health literacy post implementation, participants’ remarked that they felt the class was helpful and wanted to share the information with friends and family. They appreciated the program and wanted more educational opportunities.

Conclusion: Advanced practice nurses must acquire understanding, cultural sensitivity, and assess the needs of the community when implementing health literacy educational projects.