UC San Diego

Objective. To implement and evaluate the effectiveness of an interactive health literacy program by measuring pharmacy students' knowledge and confidence. Design. A health literacy module consisting of a lecture and workshop was incorporated into a self-care course for first-year pharmacy students. Active-learning activities included practicing health literacy tools, discussing faculty-created video vignettes, and improving readability of patient education monographs. A non-validated survey assessed knowledge and confidence before and after training. Assessment. Fifty-three students (88%) completed a pre-training survey, and 60 (100%) completed a post-training survey. Students' confidence improved in six of seven areas (p<.001). Students' knowledge significantly improved in three of 14 areas (p<.01) pertaining to the average American reading level, high-risk age groups, and correlation of late prescription refills to low health literacy. Although knowledge increased in other areas, the improvements were not significant. Conclusion. An interactive, multifaceted health literacy training program significantly improved pharmacy students' knowledge and confidence in recognizing and being able to assist patients with low health literacy.