91PORN

Health literacy — the ability to find, understand, and use health information and services to make well-informed decisions and take action — is the focus of a $3,000 government grant to an 91PORN Imperial Valley nursing faculty member and expert in rural health services.

Shiloh Williams, co-director of the 91PORN Imperial Valley Research, Innovation, Student Engagement (RISE) Center, received the grant from the Imperial County Public Health Department to improve health literacy practices among healthcare professionals in the region.

The initiative seeks to better understand how healthcare providers address patient health literacy needs and identify opportunities to strengthen communication and education strategies. The funding supports survey development, deployment, and data collection efforts, . 

“We’re now looking at it from the provider side,” said Williams, an assistant professor in nursing. “What are healthcare professionals doing to support patients with health literacy needs, and where are the opportunities to build stronger communication practices?”

The calls health literacy an important tool both to make health information and services findable, understandable, and usable, and to build trust and advance health equity.

Williams’ project reflects years of research and advocacy centered on improving health education for Imperial Valley communities. Williams explained that much of her early research focused on whether health education materials were written at an accessible reading level for patients. Many educational resources, she said, ideally should be written at a third-grade reading level to ensure better understanding among patients and caregivers.

For Williams, health literacy is especially important, where residents often face barriers to healthcare access and resources. Limited access to understandable health information can negatively impact chronic disease management, patient engagement, and overall health outcomes.

“We’ve learned that current materials may not have all the necessary components,” said Williams. “We know that if we empower patients to better understand the diagnosis or their health plan given by their provider, they’ll be able to take action and better take care of their health. They’ll be able to have better conversations in terms of whether something is working for them or not.”

The survey will assess healthcare professionals’ knowledge of health literacy practices, current training opportunities, and how patient materials are reviewed and approved within healthcare organizations. 

The initiative is being conducted in partnership with the Imperial County Public Health Department, HealthNET, and the Imperial County Community Health Improvement Partnership (ICCHIP). 

Williams emphasized partnerships between educational institutions, public health agencies, and healthcare organizations are essential for improving community health outcomes and advancing health equity across the region.

“As we gather data and conclude findings, we hope our data helps compile better information to other efforts around health literacy,” said Williams. “When our data is a part of another larger community's data, it is difficult to identify issues in Imperial County and develop strategies that meet our needs. This is a starting seed to work with our local organizations and hopefully get more funding based on our own data.”

In the long term, the project aims to support community-based health literacy training and develop “health literacy champions” within local healthcare organizations who can help improve patient-provider communication. 

Community members and healthcare organizations can support the effort by sharing and completing the , set to be administered through Qualtrics, deployed by Williams and her team, participating in stakeholder meetings, and engaging in future health improvement initiatives throughout Imperial County.