Improving wellbeing through low-literacy resources

Many individuals who need crisis services are part of one or vulnerable groups and disproportionately likely to have low literacy skills. As a result, individuals served by the crisis response program need additional support to access resources and build resilience skills to break the cycle of vulnerability to repeated crisis. For people with low literacy, the written resources currently disseminated by the crisis response team are less likely to be accessible and thus less effective to support resilience for vulnerable residents.

We know from health services research that when people with low literacy skills are going through a stressful time, they have better outcomes with information is presented using simple language and meaningful graphics. Therefore, we sought to apply this evidence to practice by first, developing simple-language and pictorial resources for people who experience crisis; second, training the City of Phoenix Community Assistance Program staff and volunteers how to recognize and meet the information needs of people with low literacy skills; and third, providing low-literacy crisis response materials in a variety of printed and digital forms so that people can access information using the written or digital technologies that work best for them.

We analyzed the full library of crisis response resources (i.e. handouts, information packets) currently in use by the Phoenix Fire Department’s Community Assistance Program. Each document was assessed for reading level, noting a best practice goal for public communication resources to be at or below a 5th grade reading level.

For resources that were at a higher reading level, we modified the text to use simpler language without losing any of the content or meaning of the material.

Next, using simplified language versions, we reformatted text-heavy documents to incorporate meaningful images in line with evidence-based best practices for health communication to vulnerable low-literacy populations.

This project matters because up to 1/5 of people in the City of Phoenix may have low literacy skills that make it difficult for them to absorb complex information about health and community resources, particularly in times of crisis. In order to provide crisis victims with the recovery information that they need, that information must be in a format that they can use.