Plain Language: A Promising Strategy for Clearly Communicating Health Information and Improving Health Literacy

Plain Language: A Promising Strategy for Clearly Communicating Health Information and Improving Health Literacy: "Conclusion: Plain language makes health information easier to understand Our nation faces an enormous challenge to ensure that people with low health literacy skills have the opportunity to receive and understand the health information they need to make sound decisions. Limited health literacy is a complex communication and information problem that requires multiple approaches and methods to realize improvement. This brief examines plain language and its contribution to improving health literacy. Research and experience demonstrate that plain language is an essential element of clear communication. Although more research is needed to determine the most effective techniques to communicate clearly with all consumers and patients, existing research shows that plain language is a promising strategy to address the challenge."