title: Facilitating behavior change with low-literacy patient education materials.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe a process for developing low-literacy health education materials that increase knowledge and activate patients toward healthier behaviors.
  
  
  METHODS
  We developed a theoretically informed process for developing educational materials. This process included convening a multidisciplinary creative team, soliciting stakeholder input, identifying key concepts to be communicated, mapping concepts to a behavioral theory, creating a supporting behavioral intervention, designing and refining materials, and assessing efficacy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We describe the use of this process to develop a diabetes self-management guide.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Developing low-literacy health education materials that will activate patients toward healthier behaviors requires attention to factors beyond reading level.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, San Francisco General Hospital, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. hseligman@medsfgh.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Hilary K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Seligman
authors.forename: Andrea S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.forename: Darren A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: DeWalt
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schillinger
authors.forename: Connie L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.forename: Betsy Bryant
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Shilliday
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delgadillo
authors.forename: Nikki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bengal
authors.forename: Terry C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D004522:Educational Status; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012648:Self Care; D012932:Social Facilitation