{"id":510,"date":"2019-10-31T19:15:55","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T19:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sommerconsulti.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=510"},"modified":"2021-07-30T14:34:11","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T18:34:11","slug":"factoring-health-literacy-into-human-factors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sommerconsulting.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/31\/factoring-health-literacy-into-human-factors\/","title":{"rendered":"FACTORING HEALTH LITERACY INTO HUMAN FACTORS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Health literacy has not historically been framed as a human factors issue, but perhaps it should be. That\u2019s because health literacy plays a role as a driver of behavior in all three facets of human factors \u2013 the people, tools, and environment. In fact, human factors are one of the most consequential aspects upon which efficient, positive outcomes are riding.<\/p>\n<p>Consider when a person must self-inject a medication.<\/p>\n<p>This task requires the patient to read the injection device\u2019s instructions for use and then self-administer the medication. The patient\u2019s numeracy and literacy skills, and the effectiveness of the written instructions, will either help or hinder the patient\u2019s ability to carry out the task.<\/p>\n<p>Now, imagine that a statistically significant portion of people incorrectly administer the medication. Suppose that they do not inject for a required ten seconds. The reasons why this may happen are not all equal. For instance, a person might not inject for the required ten seconds because:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 They do not understand the instructions<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 The needle malfunctions<\/p>\n<p>The second reason is arguably more severe than the first.<\/p>\n<p>While the fix for\u00a0<em>unclear<\/em>\u00a0<em>instructions<\/em>\u00a0may be a straightforward plain-language re-write, the solution for a\u00a0<em>needle malfuction<\/em>\u00a0may require a device redesign. Simply counting the number of times that the injection duration was less than the required ten seconds is an empirical data point that does not provide enough insight on its own.<\/p>\n<p>Did the person not stick to the ten seconds because they didn\u2019t<em>\u00a0understand\u00a0<\/em>the instructions? Were they unable to translate\u00a0<em>the instructions into action<\/em>? Did they simply use the device incorrectly? Was it some combination of all three, or was it something else entirely?<\/p>\n<p>The field of human factors is growing increasingly important and complicated as combination products become more common. Manufacturers face many challenges as they try to distinguish between device issues and drug issues. Traditional observation and interview techniques don\u2019t always paint a clear picture. Qualitative methods and ergonomics can both reveal\u00a0<em>what<\/em>\u00a0is happening, but the role of formative research is to answer\u00a0<em>why\u00a0<\/em>it is happening.<\/p>\n<p>Looking at it through the lens of health literacy research can help, either by identifying the underlying cause of an observed behavior\u00a0<em>as a health literacy issue<\/em>, or definitively ruling it out.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>Bill Stone<\/p>\n<p>Director, Content Strategy<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-1303 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/sommerconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/sommer-logo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"164\" height=\"96\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 164px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 164\/96;\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Health literacy has not historically been framed as a human factors issue, but perhaps it should be. That\u2019s because health literacy plays a role as a driver of behavior in all three facets of human factors \u2013 the people, tools, and environment. In fact, human factors are one of the most consequential aspects upon which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":511,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-literacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sommerconsulting.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sommerconsulting.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sommerconsulting.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sommerconsulting.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sommerconsulting.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sommerconsulting.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sommerconsulting.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sommerconsulting.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sommerconsulting.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sommerconsulting.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}