Health Literacy Competencies For Health Professionals

The purpose of this modified Delphi study was to obtain consensus from health literacy experts on the essential health literacy competencies for health professionals. The competencies agreed upon by health literacy experts could serve as a foundation to create and evaluate health literacy curricula for health professionals. Reports in the literature indicate that health professionals are ill prepared to mitigate the consequences of limited health literacy for at-risk populations. Most prelicensing curricula of health professionals do not cover health literacy. Agreeing on core competencies is the first step in curriculum design. Two rounds of a modified Delphi approach included 20 expert panelists in health literacy that reviewed the potential literacy competencies presented. At the end of Round 2, the panelists had rated 105 statements, reached consensus on 64 competencies (67%), and failed to reach consensus on 41 competencies (43%).