Culturally Diverse Patient Experiences and Walking Interviews: A Co-Design Approach to Improving Organizational Health Literacy

Abstract

People from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds are more likely to have low health literacy and less appropriate access to health services than other Australians. Interventions to improve health literacy have demonstrated moderate improvements in health service use. Most of these interventions focus on simplifying communication as opposed to navigation support. A comprehensive and multilevel response is required if the health care system and organizations are to be more responsive to different levels of health literacy. This includes obtaining feedback from patients on their experience of accessing health care. This study piloted the use of a co-design process to develop a culturally appropriate mechanism of elucidating the perspectives of community members of culturally diverse groups on their experiences of accessing a health service to identify the strengths and weaknesses of an organization's health literacy. This co-design process involved the adaptation of an existing “Walking Interview” tool to the location and language groups being targeted, as well as determining the process for recruiting participants and conducting the walking interviews. The interviews provided valuable insights into the experiences of culturally diverse groups in accessing Canterbury Hospital and identified areas for improvement, such as clearer signage and access to interpreter services. [HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice. 2019;3(4):e238–e242.]

The organizational health components for small-sized health-care organizations: A systematic review

“…In this regards, each of the dimensions identified in the subset of a major title such as team work,[ 25 ] and sub-title such as inter-staff interaction,[ 41 46 47 ] share experience and be a role model[ 48 49 50 ] team climate,[ 51 52 ] and team's perceptions[ 50 ] so on, or title such as equity and sub-title such as power equalization,[ 43 ] justice in pay,[ 27 ] influences of age, gender, ethnicity,[ 46 ] adapt an intervention into different languages (culturally diverse groups),[ 53 ] fairness and values[ 36 ] and tailor care to address inter-related forms of violence,[ 49 ] was reported.…”

Performing an Organizational Health Literacy Assessment in a Shelter Serving People with Mental Illness

“…Implemented alone, person-focused efforts can obfuscate the necessity and possibility of systems change. Institutions and programs generally create higher literacy demands than the average U.S. adult can handle ( Berkman et al, 2011 ; Lloyd et al, 2019 ; Oelschlegel et al, 2017; Okan, 2019 ; Rudd, 2017 ), and for some populations, like people with serious mental illness, the demands are even more profound ( Lincoln et al, 2021 ). Overall, organizational health literacy assessments can help organizations reach many important institutional goals, including reducing costs and improving positive outcomes.…”

Using Feasibility Data and Codesign to Refine a Group-Based Health Literacy Intervention for New Parents

“…This work adds to a growing number of studies that have used codesign to inform the development of health literacy interventions (e.g., Ali et al, 2019 ; Jessup et al, 2018 ; Lloyd et al, 2019 ). Our codesign approach included both health care staff and patient partners (new parents) as both represent “end-users” who will be engaged in delivering and participating in the program.…”