Culture, translation, and genre:

The emergence of health

literacy interventions

Philip Girvan WRAB 2011

Fairfax, VA
PGSO Solutions
February 18, 2011
 Presentation Objectives:

• Outline the two emerging

models of health literacy.

• Locate rhetorical genres within

the two models.

• Discuss ways that a health

literacy genre mediates culture.
What is health literacy?
 Health definitions
Good health or bad Health involves the whole
health...in a physical person so I guess it’s your
disease.  physical, your
psychological, your
Don't automatically emotional, and your
think  of emotional spiritual and your social and
health or psychological your cultural …being pain-
health.  Physical free  ... Health is what
health...first thing that
allows you to do the things
comes to mind.
you want to do freely.

(Girvan, 2010)
Health literacy as a clinical risk
(Nutbeam, 2008)
Health literacy as a personal asset
(Nutbeam, 2008)
Implications of interpreting health
literacy as a personal asset
• Health literacy transcends the
individual.

• Health literacy also transcends

the clinical encounter.

• Individual and systems barriers

affecting health literacy.
 Systems barriers include
• Complex health system
• Lack of community-based literacy upgrading
programs
•
Inadequate workplace training & education
• Confusing & conflicting health information
• Lack of awareness & knowledge about health
literacy among health and literacy
professionals (Rootman, I. & Gordon-El-
Bihbety, D., 2008)
Genres are systems barriers.
 Associated genres
Clinical risk Personal Asset

Directions on a pill MSCC Facebook

bottle page engaging &
empowering MS
sufferers &
interested parties
 Health 2.0
“participatory healthcare. Enabled
by information, software, and
community that we collect or
create, we the patients can be
effective partners in our own
healthcare, and we the people
can participate in reshaping the
health system itself” (Eytan,
2008.
 Methods
Online survey questionnaire
• 161+ participants invited to
particpate
• 14 respondents

Genre, document and discourse

analysis of 6 health literacy
interventions shared by the survey
participants.
 Genre Types
One report arising from a project to
address low literacy rates among
Nova Scotia's seniors.

Five static websites focusing on health

promotion, knowledge translation,
disease prevention, and system
navigation.
What is Culture?
 Culture is...
“negotiated, unifying, transformative and
dynamic” (Lynam et al., 2007: 23)

“not static for individuals or for societies”,

(Institute of Medicine, 2004: 111)

inscribed on genres
 MS Facebook Page
MSSC maintains the page and uploads
links; users engage, share, learn, and
debate.
 Findings
Emerging health literacy genres, e.g.,
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube have led to the
concept of Health 2.0:

a partipatory, empowering platform of

health communications consistent with
Nutbeam's notion of health literacy as a
personal asset.
 References
Eytan. T. (2008). The Health 2.0 Definition: Not just the Latest,
The Greatest. Accessed January 16, 2011.

Girvan, P. (2010). Health Literacy as Capital: Investigating the EAL

Teaching Perspective. Unpublished Masters dissertation. University
of Birmingham.

Institute of Medicine. (2004). Health Literacy: A Prescription to End

Confusion. Nielsen-Bohlman, L., Panzer, A. M., Kindig, D. A.
(Eds). Washington, DC. The National Academies Press.

Nutbeam, D. (2008). The Evolving Concept of Health Literacy.  Social

Science & Medicine 67. 2072-2078.

Rootman, I. & Gordon-El-Bihbety, D. (2008). A Vision for a Health

Literate Canada: Report of the Expert Panel on Health Literacy. 
Canadian Public Health Association.
 Contact information
girvanphilip[at]gmail[dot]com 

twitter.com/pgirvan

scribd.com/philipgirvan
Thank you

Questions?