An Overview of Medical and Public Health Literature Addressing Literacy Issues: An Annotated Bibliography. NCSALL Reports #14.

This report presents results from a computer-assisted search of the medical and public health literature published between 1990-99 that addressed literacy issues in health care and in health promotion education. Following a brief introduction on the subject of health and literacy, the literature search methods are described and the choice of citation categories is discussed. Finally, an annotated bibliography is presented for articles meeting the inclusion requirements. The bibliography includes 242 citations that are arranged in the following categorical groups: (1) links between literacy and health; (2) literacy levels of patients, clients, or program participants; (3) match between reading ability and written materials; (4) functional literacy and institutional settings; (5) materials assessments; (6) research tools for assessing health literacy; (7) program descriptions; and (8) guidelines for practice. For each article, this information is provided, as relevant: author(s); date of publication; title; journal title; volume; and pagination. (YLB)