Research Links how Literacy Impacts Health and Wellbeing
SYRACUSE, NY, June 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Health literacy is essential to improving health outcomes and empowering communities to manage their health and wellbeing. Adult education classrooms have long played a critical role in this empowerment process. But there remains an important question: How have adult education programs and instructors responded to new health care realities, like the increased use of digital technologies and more speakers of other languages who are utilizing the health care system?
In a special issue of Adult Literacy Education: The International Journal of Literacy, Language, and Numeracy, researchers studied what is being done to build health literacy among adults with low literacy and language skills.
In one study, researchers reviewed what health literacy interventions were in place across formal and informal educational settings for the growing migrant community worldwide and whether they met that population's needs. They found that, depending on the location and cause of migration, a lack of standardization among health literacy interventions created limitations when it came to outcomes. From this, the research team created a set of recommendations to improve the planning and reporting of interventions.
In another case study, a team from an adult literacy program in Arizona discusses how it created a mock patient portal that allows adult learners to practice interacting with the health care system digitally and what they learned about the importance of contextualized learning.
'For millions of adults, both in the US and around the globe, the ability to successfully manage their own health care evades them due to low literacy or language skills,' said ProLiteracy President and CEO Mark Vineis. 'It's imperative that adult educators have access to research like this to better understand the needs of adults and to help shape the way they approach instruction to build healthier communities.'
This edition of our journal includes further research about language-based health education, a review of the digital health landscape, and a Forum dialog that considers how we think about 'good learners,' 'good patients,' and language.
We partner with Rutgers University to publish Adult Literacy Education. The journal editors—Alisa Belzer, Amy Rose, and Heather Brown—are leading researchers in the adult literacy and education field who believe in the importance of research to complement practitioners' experiences, intuition, and professional learning.
In the research journal, adult literacy practitioners, researchers, funders, and policymakers can find evidence-based information to guide their practice, prompt important discussions, and build awareness.
We publish the free online journal three times per year to share the latest and best research and practices in adult literacy, numeracy, and English language education. Each article in Adult Literacy Education goes through a blind peer-review process to ensure we are publishing the highest quality information that the field can trust and use. By keeping our research free, we ensure that the important information shared in the journal will benefit all adult learners equally.
You can find the new issue of Adult Literacy Education at https://www.proliteracy.org/ALE-Journal. Writers interested in submitting articles for consideration in future issues of the journal can find author guidelines and a submission form on the journal's webpage.
About ProLiteracy
We are the world's leader in adult education practice, innovating and building the capacity of literacy programs everywhere—from small community-based organizations to large adult education programs and institutions. We serve over 5,000 adult literacy programs annually and work with partners in 28 countries worldwide. By providing comprehensive training and professional learning, accessible research, grant funding, and leading-edge digital and print learning resources through New Readers Press, we advocate for and unleash the power of literacy to transform lives.
Contact: Allison Bleyler McDonald
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Drug development and commercialization involve a high degree of risk, and only a small number of research and development programs result in commercialization of a product. Results in early-stage clinical trials may not be indicative of full results or results from later stage or larger scale clinical trials and do not ensure regulatory approval. You should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in such statements, including without limitation, uncertainty of success in the development and potential commercialization of higher dose regimen of nusinersen; the risk that we may not fully enroll our clinical trials or enrollment will take longer than expected; unexpected concerns may arise from additional data, analysis or results obtained during our clinical trials; regulatory authorities may require additional information or further studies, or may fail or refuse to approve or may delay approval of our drug candidates, including SPINRAZA; the occurrence of adverse safety events; the risks of unexpected hurdles, costs or delays; failure to protect and enforce our data, intellectual property and other proprietary rights and uncertainties relating to intellectual property claims and challenges; product liability claims; results of operations and financial condition. The foregoing sets forth many, but not all, of the factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations in any forward-looking statement. Investors should consider this cautionary statement, as well as the risk factors identified in our most recent annual or quarterly report and in other reports we have filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements. References:
