Human Development

Screen all patients for their literacy level

AdministratorJanuary 5, 2011

  • The REALM: Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine is a 1-2 minute screening exam designed to measure recognition and comprehension of medical terminology.
  • Ask the patient how comfortable they are filling out medical forms by themselves.

Assess reading level of materials you distribute

  • The Suitability Assessment of Materials and the Medicaid Checklist are readability formulas that evaluate educational materials for how well they are understood, and how well they stimulate learning.
  • Fleisch-Kincaid Grade Level Formula counts the number of syllables in each word and the number of words in each sentence.
  • The SMOG (Simple Measure of Gobbledygook) index evaluates material based on average sentence length and counts words that have three or more syllables in 30 sentences.

References:

Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc. Available at: http://www.chcs.org

Rajda, C., George, N. (2009). The Effect of Education and Literacy Levels on Health Outcomes of the Elderly. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 5(2), 115-119.

Wallace, LS., Rogers, ES., Roskos, SE., Holiday, DB, Weiss, BD. Screening items to identify patients with limited health literacy skills. J Gen Intern Med. 2006; 21:874-877.

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Human Development

Child Welfare – Two New Publications Available

AdministratorNovember 29, 2010

 
Nation Centers on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare Check Out Two New Publications About Child Welfare

SAMHSA’s National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare is proud to announce the release of two new publications for professionals in child welfare services, substance abuse treatment services, and family court services.

  Substance Abuse Specialists in Child Welfare Agencies and Dependency CourtsThe purpose of co-locating substance abuse specialists is to ensure that parents are assessed as quickly as possible, to improve parent engagement and retention in treatment, to streamline entry into treatment, and to provide consultation to child welfare and dependency court workers.

Order or Download Online
  Drug Testing in Child Welfare: Practice and Policy ConsiderationsHelps guide child welfare agency policymakers in developing practice and policy protocols regarding the use of drug testing in child welfare and addresses the practice and policy issues that policymakers must consider to effectively use drug testing in the comprehensive assessment and monitoring that child welfare agencies provide.

Order or Download Online
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Human Development