Merilyn Säde: to improve people’s health literacy, we could learn from social media

Despite efforts to communicate health information, people’s health literacy remains inadequate: according to a newly published study, seven out of ten people struggle to access and understand reliable health information. One way to improve health literacy could be to learn from social media and do more to remind people of important milestones in their health journey, writes Merilyn Säde.

The National Institute for Health Development (TAI) recently published the results of the first study of health literacy among Estonia’s adult population. The results are concerning: 71% of respondents have inadequate health literacy. This means that many people in Estonia may find it difficult to find reliable health information and understand it. Gaps in health knowledge directly affect a person’s ability to make decisions and choices that support their health – in other words, to do what health literacy enables them to do.

Poor health decisions also clearly affect healthcare costs. If the consequences of those decisions lead to a person’s health getting worse, the need for healthcare services increases. According to the study, costs resulting from low health literacy could account for up to 5% of healthcare expenses.

The TAI study highlights that older people and those in less favourable socioeconomic circumstances find it particularly difficult to navigate health information. Education also plays a role. The study therefore shows a clear link between people’s financial circumstances and education, and how well they are able to find their way through the world of health information and make decisions based on it.

Alongside PROVIDING HEALTH INFORMATION, WE MUST ALSO EMPOWER PEOPLE TO MAKE DECISIONS

On the one hand, public institutions and the private sector invest considerable time and money each year in health-prevention campaigns and efforts to improve health awareness. On the other hand, more attention also needs to be paid to developing people’s health literacy. Kadi Krinal, Senior Researcher at TalTech’s Institute of Health Technologies, sums this up well in her book “I Don’t Care! Health and Illness in a Tangle of Culture and Communication:“ the healthcare system itself must also contribute to developing people’s individual capacity and sense of responsibility.

According to Krinal, the system must provide clear information materials, explaining and justifying recommendations in an accessible way that supports decision-making. Responsibility for developing health literacy and making the resulting decisions cannot rest solely with the individual; it must be shared. This also means helping people navigate the healthcare system and understand what they need to do as patients, when and how to do it, and which information they can trust.

Where health literacy is limited, we cannot assume that people are equipped to make informed decisions about their health, let alone remember to act on them.

That is why, alongside communication, it is important to address barriers within the system itself. This means looking at how well we have thought through, for example, where and how people in Estonia, including those who appear to be healthy, first enter the healthcare system, and how well the solutions available in healthcare support them throughout their health or treatment journey, even after they have taken the first steps.

What happens next for a person after a doctor’s appointment depends largely on them. But this is where a trap lies: one that we have built into the healthcare system. Where health literacy is limited, we cannot assume that people are equipped to make informed decisions about their health, let alone remember to act on them.

MODERN DIGITAL TOOLS COULD PLAY A GREATER ROLE IN HEALTHCARE TOO

We could build the logic behind our Terviseportaal on the model of push notifications used by social media and apps.  Terviseportaal could be the first point of entry into the healthcare system – a place where people can find information about their health and previous test results, but also get support and help with deciding what to do next. And it could do so continuously and automatically.

A good example of this kind of support is the tervisekassa sending people reminder emails to take part in screening, or the email notification people receive when a doctor has issued a new prescription. Why couldn’t Terviseportaal and, for example, Eesti app support people in the same way throughout their health journey by sending them notifications about important health milestones?

Social media constantly reminds us whether, and by whom, our posts or comments have been liked or disliked. So why couldn’t Terviseportaal gently remind us if we have not been to the dentist for two years or have not collected a prescribed medicine? If Terviseportaal worked a little more like social media – helping all of us keep our own health in mind on a regular basis, it might help many of us remember both healthy habits and essential appointments.

Terviseportaal has great potential to serve both as a reminder and as a way to empower people to maintain healthy behaviours.

Terviseportaal currently provides information about a person’s blood group, tests and appointments. It could also include a personal roadmap for their health journey, which both healthy people and those living with a chronic condition could use as a basis for managing their health. From a prevention perspective, it is important to keep healthy habits a priority in the lives of healthy people too. Terviseportaal has great potential to serve both as a reminder and as a way to empower people to maintain healthy behaviours.

This could also give family doctors and nurses more time to focus on patients who do not have the skills or knowledge to access information through Terviseportaal or who do not use a smart device or the internet. Automated, supportive reminders from Terviseportaal could also make the healthcare system easier to navigate and, in turn, reduce the overall burden on healthcare professionals.

Merilyn’s opinion piece was first published on the  Postimees website.