Group items tagged

This article presents the American College Health Association National Health Assessment (ACHA - NCHA). It describes the process of collecting information to complete this survey. It also explains the importance of the study's results in understanding the health needs of different colleges. Moreover, the ACHA - NCHA is also concerned with drinking issues among college students. This article provides excellent statistics and gives ideas for coming up with one's own survey questions.

One possibility for those interested in sports to consider is the concept of physical literacy, here called "movement literacy," the idea that just as our minds learn to function at higher levels and acquire new skills, our bodies must do the same. However, between phyical education budgets being cut and increasing importance placed on technology, our understanding of movement literacy is decreasing. This article focuses on students in Kenya, where the most original innovative learning takes place during unstructed playtime. Includes a PDF and several photographs.

Health literacy is basic reading and numerical skills that allow a person to function in the health care environment. Even though most adults read at an eighth-grade level, and 20 percent of the population reads at or below a fifth-grade level, most health care materials are written at a 10th-grade level. Older patients are particularly affected because their reading and comprehension abilities are influenced by their cognition and their vision and hearing status. Inadequate health literacy can result in difficulty accessing health care, following instructions from a physician, and taking medication properly. Patients with inadequate health literacy are more likely to be hospitalized than patients with adequate skills. Patients understand medical information better when spoken to slowly, simple words are used, and a restricted amount of information is presented. For optimal comprehension and compliance, patient education material should be written at a sixth-grade or lower reading level, preferably including pictures and illustrations. All patients prefer reading medical information written in clear and concise language. Physicians should be alert to this problem because most patients are unwilling to admit that they have literacy problems. (Am Fam Physician 2005;72:463-8. Copyright© 2005 American Academy of Family Physicians.)

The article discusses what health literacy is and what constitutes good health literacy. Cultural, language and communication barriers have great potential to lead to mutual misunderstandings between patients and their health care providers. Because these barriers lead to communication breakdowns, patient safety is jeopardized, so changes that will permit patients to receive more time, attention, education and understanding of their conditions and their care will help alleviate these obstacles.

This article gives an example of a third grade girl that is attending a vacation bible school. This article, edited by Megan Greulich, shows examples about how teaching the stories in the Bible can contribute to the understanding of a childs learning ability.

The report discusses how the complexity of medical information affects the health of the patient. The terminology used by doctors and other health professionals contribute to low literacy in patients, and because of the difficulty patients have understanding medical information, health outcomes of patients are jeopardized. The report makes interesting points that expose the unnecessarily complex and confusing language doctors insist on using when talking to patients.

Wilder discusses how the communication problems with health professional can negatively impact the outcome of medical care for patients with low health literacy skills. Because of the way health information is presented by clinicians, patients have trouble comprehending what is said. Because patients are expected to play an active role in their own medical care and treatment, it is necessary that health information be given in ways that patients and families can understand. Low literacy gets in the way of good health care and leads to more health problems in patients. Wilder makes a good case for the importance of good communication techniques in health matters.

In a case study performed at the University of Minnesota, the authors developed a consensus about the determining factors linked to the correlation of academic performance and student athletes. They used these results to produce helpful ideas, useful for improving academic standards within universities athletic programs. Such recommendations ranged from academic support availability to university alum involvement. These findings give readers an idea and understanding of the requirements needed to have a successful academic support program in a university, however these results are also limited by the fact that the study was performed only at the University of Minnesota.

Parker and Ratzan discuss what health literacy is, the importance of having health literacy skills, and the need for a strategy to address limited health literacy. The degree to which individuals are able to understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions require a health information strategy that addresses the problems of low health literacy. Low health literacy is prevalent because current health information is somewhat complex. Parker and Ratzan present a clear definition of health literacy and why a strategy is important for better communication.

A film available on OhioLINK. TV and radio commercials, Web sites and banner ads, magazine ads, pop songs, photos, and even news articles and textbooks: all of them are sending messages to influence the reader/viewer/listener. How do they grab the attention? What are they selling-a product or service? a lifestyle? an ideology?-and why? Would a different media consumer interpret the message differently? This program raises more questions than it answers, which is the whole point: to prompt students to question, question, question the messages they are bombarded with daily. Savvy media consumers aren't born; they're made, and this program is an excellent tool for shaping the classroom dialogue. (35 minutes)

A film available on OhioLINK. TV and radio commercials, Web sites and banner ads, magazine ads, pop songs, photos, and even news articles and textbooks: all of them are sending messages to influence the reader/viewer/listener. How do they grab the attention? What are they selling-a product or service? a lifestyle? an ideology?-and why? Would a different media consumer interpret the message differently? This program raises more questions than it answers, which is the whole point: to prompt students to question, question, question the messages they are bombarded with daily. Savvy media consumers aren't born; they're made, and this program is an excellent tool for shaping the classroom dialogue. (35 minutes)

This article was a study done to test weather random participants would shop healthier after given education on reading labels. The results showed increases in three of the nine food groups but untimately the increases were not significant enough to conclude anything. This study was short but had references so it is reputable.

A film on OhioLINK. How could a child be a top math student yet not be able to read? Why can another child read well but not be able to write a paragraph that makes sense? While watching children being taught new ways to learn, this program offers expert insight into the nature of learning disabilities, why learning disabilities may also be accompanied by ADHD or social disorders, and what can be done to help children learn to compensate and succeed. A Meridian Production. (16 minutes, color)

This article provides a description of many reasons that render college students alcoholic people. It also discusses the effects of binge drinking on students, one of which is poor academic performance. Then, it presents several methods that could be followed to control alcohol abuse on campus. This article effectively portrays the importance of controlling the consumption of alcohol on campus. However, It does not thoroughly discuss the relationship between alcohol abuse and academic performance, although it includes this idea in the title.