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Degrees of separation: health literacy education in speech language pathology programs

Objectives: To explore how Speech Language Pathology (SLP) leaders implement HLE within higher education SLP programs. Introduction: Adequate health literacy skills are a vital aspect of an individual’s quality of life and well-being. Low health literacy is related to low life expectancy and higher prevalence of disease and illness. Historically however, healthcare providers, such as SLPs have overlooked the health literacy skills of their clients. Currently, there is minimal data exists on whether SLP leaders are incorporating health literacy education (HLE) into their programs and student training. Methods: An electronic survey was emailed to SLP leaders (i.e., administrators and/or faculty), who were members of SLP higher education programs accredited through the American Speech-Language Hearing Associations’ (ASHA) Council on Academic Accreditation, questioning their implementation of HLE health and health literacy strategy (HLS) use. Results: More than half (56%) of participants implemented HLE within their SLP programs. Only 4% always teach students why health literacy is important and 75% never instruct students to encourage clients to ask questions. Although HLE and HLS occurred in SLP programs, use of each varied greatly. Conclusion: SLP leaders are implementing HLE; however, there is a lack of consistency in the HLS being taught. National SLP curriculum standards should be mandated to increase HLE instruction and consistency of HLS use. Future researchusing qualitative data is needed to gain a better understanding of how SLP leaders integrate HLE into their programs and why they value doing so. This could include how SLP leaders define and describe health literacy, how it is being taught and assessed, and why they believe HLE is important for their clients.