title: Active-learning strategies to develop health literacy knowledge and skills.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To implement active-learning exercises in a required pharmacy course and assess their impact on students' knowledge and confidence in identifying and communicating with patients with low health literacy, as part of a required course in cultural competency, health literacy, and health beliefs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Active-learning activities including administering health literacy assessments, identifying informal signs of low health literacy, conducting mock patient counseling sessions, rating the readability of drug information, analyzing information in drug advertisements, and writing patient education materials were incorporated into the 6-sesssion health literacy portion of the course.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A pretest and posttest showed that students' knowledge of health literacy increased, and a retrospective pretest found improvement in students' confidence in their ability to care for patients with low health literacy. In-class discussions provided informal evidence that students gained new knowledge from the active-learning activities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The addition of active-learning activities was effective in teaching health literacy concepts to pharmacy students.
authors.affiliation: Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville, IL 62026, USA. rdevraj@siue.edu
authors.forename: Radhika
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Devraj
authors.forename: Lakesha M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.forename: Gireesh V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Gupchup
authors.forename: Therese I
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Poirier
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising; D003142:Communication; D003376:Counseling; D054521:Cultural Competency; D003479:Curriculum; D004512:Education, Pharmacy / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D012580:Schools, Pharmacy / Q000458:organization & administration; D013339:Students, Pharmacy