Beyond Reading Rainbow

Social determinants of health are factors, such as education level, food, income, and shelter, that can greatly influence your overall health. For instance, not having a college degree limits your career options, and therefore possible income. With lower income, affordable housing may only be available in less safe areas. Also, this cheaper housing may be located in a "food desert," meaning access to fresh, healthy food is limited. Even when healthy foods are available, they will still likely be more expensive than the cheap, highly processed, foods. If you have a family to feed on a budget, you may have to rely on these less healthy foods as staples of your diet. Then, this poor diet can lead to a myriad of long term health effects including heart disease and diabetes. I grew up experiencing this same type of snowball effect but I feel like sometimes it's easy for people to overlook the negative impact these factors can have, especially if they have never experienced it themselves.

Health literacy is the degree to which people can understand health information/services needed to make informed health decisions. I already knew that the average functional reading level in America is around 5th grade. However, the videos shown in lecture today reminded me how dangerous that can be. Many of the people interviewed had a hard time understanding/interpreting the instructions on their prescription bottles. If taken incorrectly, not only will the prescriptions not work as intended, but this could also easily lead to an accidental overdose. As health care professionals it is vitally important that we break down the complex medical terminology into everyday language they can understand and always double check for understanding with our clients. Hopefully, by establishing a therapeutic relationship with clients, they will feel comfortable enough to ask any additional questions they may have because they know we will answer them judgement-free.