Under the radar: poor health literacy as a predictor of ill-health #LILAC26

This is Sheila with my 3rd liveblog for the first day of  the LILAC information literacy conference Today's keynote is from Sue Lacey Bryant titled Under the radar: poor health literacy as a predictor of ill-health. This is a liveblog, so I am aiming to capture key points - there was a lot of information on Bryant's slides and I haven't captured it all!
Bryant started by talking about how poor health literacy limits people's ability to deal with their health (and it is a predictor of ill-health), but it is an underaddressed issue (though she noted that the amount of literature is increasing right now). She said how we can take our literacy for granted, as we practice it in our everyday lives.
Her top 3 takeways were (1) it is a determinant of health  (2) it is a stronger predictor that demographics such as education level or ethnic group and (3) health literacy can be improved (the good news!) Bryant highlighted that 16.4% of adults in England have low literacy, but it is under the radar "because, by its very nature, it is exclusionary" since literacy skills are needed for most modes of communication (Bryant cited this). She showed a journey for literacy development, from functional literacy, to digital literacy, to information literacy, to health literacy.
Bryangt moved on to indicate the "scale of the problem" 19.4% respondents to a questionnaire had some level of difficulty reading and understanding written health information (which is more concerning, considering that a level of literacy is needed to fill in a questionnaire). An observational study found that 61% of people cannot understand word based health information which includes numbers well enough to make decisions (from this article). Also there are big differences between different parts of the UK, in terms of health literacy.
Bryant referred to the Canberra Health Literacy Club to identify situations where higher levels of skills and support were needed. There is a strong evidence that poor health literacy impacts people's health e.g. being less able to manage long term conditions, more likely to have depression, more likely to experience hospitalisation. This means there are health inequalities!
Bryant talked about the Complete Care Community Programme which worked with 65 sites, aiming to address "wider determinants of health that leads to inequity of access to, and poor outcomes from, care." - I think she said there was a report due soon.
There is a cost associated with the poor health that comes with health inequality - which falls on health trusts (e.g. with readmissions, treatment needed because of poor self-management of health) and also the cost to the person and those supporting the person.
She went on to cite Palmer & Gorman (I think this) who identified that people inhabit an information environment - and different people inhabit different information environments e.g. it might be one that is open to more misinformation. Misinformation has been shown to spread swiftly and deeply  and the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer found that 58% of 18-34 year oldd regretted health-related decisions they had taken based on advice from influencers.
Bryant welcomed the UK government report A Safe, Informed Digital Nation which sets out an agenda to give easier access to clear, trusted information and develop media literacy. She also highlighted recommendations from the Health Equity Evidence Centre Use of library services was included, but there is currently a low evidence base to demonstrate libraries' impact - more research is needed here.
In the US National Library of Medicine's Health Literacy Companion Document (to its HL framework - see the image at the start of the post) it highlights the need for information accessibility, quality and relevance; the importance of professionals and the role of organisations. Bryant gave some examples of the need and impact of these key elements. Recommendations include having health literacy taught in teh school curriculum, not just for those studying medicine and healthcare. Bryane also mentioned a scoping review on misinformation (Boler et al, 2025 - I think this) which identifies the need for health literacy education for adults, outside formal education.
Bryant recommended the Health Literacy Matters website and also advocated becoming a health literate organisation, and also mentioned numerous NHS resources that can support health literacy. Bryant herself chairs the National Health and Digital Literacy Partnership which aims to establish a community-based approach. A key issue was collaboration, and Bryant urged people to get involved in these initiatives and to take individual steps to close the health literacy gap e.g. co-design resources and upskill.