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Understanding & Use of Health Information

Outlining Goals/Objectives

Think about what you want to learn from or about your population of older adults. How will their responses inform your product development? Prepare a list of questions before you begin drafting and testing your product.

Sample questions to ask older adults or caregivers during planning, design, and development:

What is the most important information you want to know about this topic?
What will make you stop and pay attention to this information?
What do you already know and what would you like to know more about?
Where are the best places to make this information available?
What are your attitudes/beliefs/values/behaviors regarding this specific health topic?
What cultural factors might influence the way the message is received?
What do you find difficult to understand about the recommended actions?
What are the different ways you want this information presented, such as pamphlets, flyers, videos and web sites?

You can modify these same questions to ask professionals, lay people and volunteers who serve older adults. They can provide valuable comments about what older adults need and want from health information and services.

Writing the Message

Text Appearance

Use at least 16 or 18 point font to address low vision problems
Do not use all capital letters
Use common, plain typeface (avoid cursive or fancy script)
Use 1 inch margins

Layout and Design

Include tools designed to help people make decisions
Present information in an order that is logical
Use headings and subheadings
Do lists in bullets
Use plain language; eliminate jargon and technical language
Use high-contract color combinations such as black type on a white background

Visual Material

Choose those relevant to topic and audience
Reflect culture, age and background
Make them simple, recognizable and clear
Show the actions you want people to take

Additional Tips

Use active voice
Present information in a clear and familiar way
Break lengthy documents into short sections
Repeat to aid comprehension

For more information about tips on communication with older adults please visit:

What's your Point? Put the most important message first. [142 KB, 1 page], CDC
Communicating Risks and Benefits: An Evidence-based User's Guide, Food and Drug Administration
Making Your Printed Health Materials Senior Friendly [388 KB, 6 pages], NIH National Institute on Aging
Toolkit for Making Written Material Clear and Effective, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Talking With Your Older Patient, A Clinician’s Handbook, NIH National Institute on Aging

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Cultural Considerations

Older adults are diverse in many ways, including:

Age
Gender
Race and ethnicity

Attitudes, beliefs and values
Sexual orientation
Socioeconomic status

Education
Geography
Place of birth

When we are "culturally competent," we understand the unique values, beliefs, traditions and customs of individuals and groups and use that knowledge to deliver respectful and responsive health services. The Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services Standards (CLAS) can help you assess if you are providing appropriate information and services.

When it comes to health communication, one message does not fit all. Consider how you can target your health message to fit the needs of your particular group of older adults. This includes not only language barriers but also understanding various groups' values, beliefs and traditional approaches to health. What do they think their options are and how might they choose among them?

Snapshots of Cultural Competency

Training Health Professionals to Reach American Indian/Alaska Native Elders
The New Mexico Geriatric Education Center's online health literacy course is for health care providers and health professional students interested in learning about Health Literacy. The course addresses not only challenges and solutions of health literacy for all, but those specific to AI/AN elders in accessing and utilizing health care systems. The curriculum introduces AI/AN cultural and spiritual belief systems and provides students with communication skills and techniques to reach elders in this population. The course highlights specific issues in clinical and treatment situations as well as community settings. It is ideal for those who serve American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) elders.

Serving Individuals Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Centralina Area Agency on Aging in Charlotte, North Carolina in partnership with the NC Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing – Charlotte Regional location saw a need to better serve the deaf and hard of hearing population in their community. Program staff are currently collaborating by looking at ways to provide Living Healthy (Chronic Disease Self-Management Program) to those who may be deaf or hard of hearing by training leaders and providing the program for participants. Interpreters using sign language would be utilized as necessary.

For more information about cultural competency for professionals who serve older adults visit: Administration on Aging Diversity Toolkit [6.77MB, 134 page]

Participatory Design

Involving older adults in the planning, design and development phases will help make your information or message more interesting, relevant and useable by the older adults you are trying to reach. This process is often referred to as participatory design. Participatory design allows older adults to be full members in the process of creating and providing access to health information and services.

If you cannot use a fully participatory process, you can use audience or consumer testing and for web sites, usability testing, to find out if your products work for your group of older adults. Usability testing is part of user-centered design (UCD). Testing can help you understand how older adults respond to your message.

Selecting Participants

How will you find older adults you want to target with your information and messages to test your ideas? Clearly defining your target population of older adults will help you decide how and where to recruit participants. For example, you might recruit older adults from:

Senior Centers
Senior Living Communities
Rehabilitation Centers
Adult Day Care Centers
Primary Care Practices

Faith Based Organizations
Volunteer groups, such as Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP)
Local civic organizations
Health Fairs, Senior Fairs

Once you decide where you want to recruit your testing population from, you'll need to decide your method of recruitment. Some examples include:

Face-to-face recruitment
Mailings
Telephone contacts
Flyers or posters
Referrals from community organizations

Don't be afraid to use your local contacts! Contact other organizations and members in your community who serve older adults. Brainstorm together the best recruitment strategy.

Accommodations for Testing

Older adults may have a variety of functional challenges that influence their ability to participate in testing. Along with cognitive, hearing, and visual challenges, physical challenges such as mobility require added accommodations. How will you handle a participant who is disabled or does not have access to transportation? You might decide to provide transportation to the testing site or interview participants at their homes. Top of Page