Workshop series for occupational therapists using the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit and other supported tools

Health literacy is the ability to access, understand, evaluate and communicate information in a manner that promotes, maintains and improves health care in a variety of settings across the life span. Health professionals, including occupational therapists (OTs), need to consider health literacy in order to optimise client-centred interventions that promote self-management of chronic conditions, health and wellness. The goal of this small-scale cohort study was to determine if a health literacy workshop series for OTs could improve their working knowledge of health literacy, and increase their self-perceived ability to identify, assess and implement client-centred interventions to at-risk patients. Over a 6-week period, six OT professionals participated in a customised workshop series, incorporating elements of the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit (the Toolkit) and other AHRQ-supported health literacy resources. A one-group, pre–posttest mixed methods design was used to measure outcomes. Results of this study suggests that participation in a health literacy education programme featuring the Toolkit and other AHRQ-supported tools can improve OTs’ self-perceived ability to identify, assess and provide client-centred services to their patients. Responses to open-ended questions both pre-and post-intervention align with the literature in that health care professionals, like OTs, can benefit from customised health literacy training to improve client-centred care by implementing specific health literacy strategies into their clinical practice