Health Information Week 2023 (Aussie Edition)
This week (July 3-9 2023) is Health Information Week (HIW) in the UK. It’s a week aimed at promoting access to trustworthy health information and improving health literacy. I think we can all agree that’s worth promoting even outside of the UK!
Some of the key topics for HIW 2023 are:
Health Literacy
Mental Health and Wellbeing
Women’s Health
Social Prescribing
Children's Health
The quality of health information affects everyone. So let’s look into at each of these health communication topics from an Australian perspective.
Health Literacy: Aussie stats
Health literacy simply means how well you can understand and use information about your health. It's like being able to read a health brochure or understand what your doctor is saying.
In Australia, around 40% of working age adults have limited health literacy skills. That's a lot of people who might struggle with understanding important health info! Low levels of health literacy can have serious consequences for well-being and quality of life.
And let’s face it, a lot of information out there isn’t that great. Sometimes it’s deliberately misleading. Sometimes it’s simply difficult to understand because of the style and level of language used.
We all need health materials that are usable as well as accurate and current.
Mental Health and Wellbeing: Top 5 sites in Australia
Having just said that there’s a lot of ‘not great’ health information out there, I’d like to back it up a little. There IS some excellent material out there for Australians. Especially in the mental health space. Here’s my top 5 sites* for health and wellbeing in Australia.
www.headtohealth.gov.au: a curated collection of great mental health resources and programs
www.beyondblue.org.au: Australia’s leading mental health organisation
www.blackdoginstitute.org.au: another one of Australia’s best known mental health sites
www.thiswayup.org.au: mental health and wellbeing programs online and backed by the best research in Australia
www.smilingmind.com.au: A free and excellent mindfulness program - available as an app as well
*Sites that provide evidence-based, up-to-date and plain language material for everybody.
What are your top resources for mental health?
Women’s Health Information: why is it so hard?
I write a lot of information for patients. For a large range of conditions. I’ve noticed that writing information on women’s health in plain language is often much harder than other topics. Why is that?
One of the key reasons seems to be the terms and jargon used for women’s health. It’s easy to think of examples:
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
Endometriosis
Perimenopausal
The Sydney Health Literacy Lab suggests aiming to use words that two syllables or less where we can, as a way to help make our health information more accessible and readable. But just think about that. Even the most common words we use for women’s health are more than two syllables.
Period
Vagina
Uterus
This means there is that there’s most likely a lot of women’s health information out there that hard for many people to read and use.
It IS possible to write women’s health information in any easy to digest way (I know, I’ve had lots of practice!). But it’s hard.
What are other areas of health where it’s hard to write in plain language?
Social Prescribing: what?
Social prescribing recognises that our well-being is about more than just physical health — it's about feeling connected, valued, and engaged in life. So, what exactly is social prescribing?
It's a way for healthcare professionals to prescribe activities or services that aren't necessarily medical treatments, but that still have a positive impact on your health and happiness.
For example, instead of just handing you a prescription for pills, your doctor might suggest things like joining a local community group, taking up a new hobby, or attending a fitness class. These activities can address a range of issues, from loneliness and stress to chronic conditions and mental health concerns.
How does it help? By tapping into community resources and support, social prescribing can:
Boost your mood and mental well-being
Reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness
Improve your physical health through activities like exercise or gardening
Provide a sense of purpose and fulfilment
Help manage chronic conditions and support recovery
Consumer Health Forum Australia have been championing social prescribing in Australia for a while. You can find out more on their website.
Children's Health: Top 5 websites
As a parent of three myself, I would jump on a landmine for my kids. And when it comes to health advice for children, there are a lot of landmines. How do parents work out what advice to follow? What is true, and what is not?
There are some great resources for Aussie parents, so here’s my top 5 Aussie children’s health websites. These sites provide evidence-backed and medically reviewed content that’s easy to understand and act on.
Final thoughts
Health communication quality affects everyone. Health Information Week helps us by drawing attention to trustworthy creators of health information and how critical it is continue improving health content for all people. It takes skill and will to produce content that’s usable, evidence-backed and current. If you need help with your content, why not hire an experienced health writer?