Training from Organizations Other than CDC

On this page, you will find health literacy and related trainings and materials from sources outside of CDC.

Below you will find training and resources to educate health care workers, hospital administrators, public health professionals, and health profession students about health literacy practices, including teach-back, and about applying these practices to better communicate with patients and the public.

IRB [Institutional Review Board] Health Literacy in Clinical Research

(Source: Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard 2021)

• Description: This training introduces the concept of health literacy and how it applies to the review and approval of clinical research. You will complete exercises to put what you learn into action.
• Length: Not provided
• Continuing Education: Not provided
• Cost: Free

Innovate to Communicate

(Source: Health Literacy Texas 2021)

• Description: This toolkit includes a lesson plan, power point presentation, demonstration videos, role-play scenarios, a game, communication observation forms, and self-learning modules you can use when teaching frontline clinicians and hospital leaders how to apply health literacy practices. The toolkit also includes a trainer evaluation form and an attendee evaluation form.
• Length: 90 minutes
• Continuing Education: Not provided
• Cost: Free

Health Literacy and Public Health

(Source: New York-New Jersey Public Health Training Center 2021)

• Description: This training introduces the concept of health literacy and demonstrates how the public’s literacy skills affect interactions with health care providers and public health professionals.
• Length: Not provided
• Continuing Education: This training offers 3 Category I CECH in health education; 3 contact hours in nursing continuing education; 3 hours in Category One CME
• Cost: Content is free. A nominal fee will be charged for continuing education credits starting on October 5, 2021.

Oral Health Literacy Toolkit

(Source: University of California’s Berkeley School of Public Health and the California Department of Public Health Office of Oral Health)

• Description: This set of resources for oral health providers offers an overview of what oral health literacy is and why it matters, as well as practical tools and roadmaps for improving the health literacy of dental practices.
• Length: Not provided
• Continuing Education: Not provided
• Cost: Free

Pathways to Safer Opioid Use

(Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion 2020)

• Description: This professional training program combines safe opioid use with pain management and health literacy. You can view a 7-minute clip that gives you a good sense of how this interactive and immersive training video helps doctors, nurses, pharmacists and patients use teach-back and shared decision making in the context of multiple story lines.
• Length: About 1 hour
• Continuing Education: None
• Cost: Free

Below you will find resources and materials to study plain language concepts, teach plain language principles to others, and apply plain language in your work.

Federal Plain Language Guidelines

(Source: The Plain Language Action and Information Network)

Description: The Plain Language Action and Information Network offers a variety of introductory classes on plain language. You may use their materials for self-study or to create your own class.

• Length: Not provided
• Continuing Education: Not provided
• Cost: Free

Plain Language: Getting Started or Brushing Up

[Source: National Institutes of Health (NIH)]

• Description: This NIH website consists of five sections and a checklist you can print. In each section, you will find a number of cards you can flip through to learn about using plain language in your work.
• Length: Not provided
• Continuing Education: Not provided. However, when you are done with the final section, you can print a certificate of completion.​​
• Cost: Free

Below you will find trainings to help health care providers, public health professionals, and health profession students provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services to address health disparities and inequities.

Introduction to C.L.A.S. Standards

(Source: The University of North Texas Health Science Center)

• Description: This self-directed, online course for public health professionals, physicians, physician assistants, physical therapists, nurse practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, and social workers lays out the standards and best practices to improve healthcare communication and therefore, improve understanding and outcomes.
• Length: The estimated time to complete this activity is 1 hour.
• Continuing Education: This training offers 1 hour of Certified Public Health (CPH) continuing education, 1 contact hour (0.1 CEUs) of Continuing Pharmacy Education credit, 1 AMA PRA Category credit™, 1 contact hour of continuing education units/continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation, 1 clock hour for social workers.
• Cost: Free

Understanding people’s values, beliefs, and traditions can help you deliver culturally appropriate health information. Take one of these trainings.

A Physician’s Practical Guide to Culturally Competent Care

(Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health)

• Description: This is a self-directed training course for physicians and other health care professionals with a specific interest in cultural competency in the provision of care.
• Length: Not provided
• Continuing Education: The training offers a maximum of 9.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits and 9.0 contact hours for nurse practitioners.
• Cost: Free

Cultural Competency Curriculum for Disaster Preparedness and Crisis Response

(Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health)

• Description: This set of courses is designed to help emergency medical personnel/first responders, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and dentists deliver culturally and linguistically competent services in disaster situations.
• Length: The estimated time to complete this activity is 9 hours.
• Continuing Education: This program is accredited for up to 9 continuing education credits for emergency medical personnel/first responders, psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, and up to 12 hours for dentists.
• Cost: Free

Cultural Competency Program for Oral Health Professionals

(Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health)

•  Description: This e-learning program provides dental professionals with basic knowledge and skills to provide oral health care to culturally and linguistically diverse populations. The program is based on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health’s National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Health Care.
•  Length: The estimated time to complete this activity is 6 hours.
•  Continuing Education: Cine-Med, an American Dental Association continuing education recognized provider, designates this activity for 6 continuing education credits. Cine-Med has partnered with the HHS Office of Minority Health to offer this dental education activity.
•  Cost: Free

Culturally Competent Nursing Care: A Cornerstone of Caring

(Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health)

• Description: This course discusses the behaviors, attitudes, and skills that enable nurses to work effectively in cross-cultural situations.
• Length: The estimated time to complete this activity is 9.0 hours.
• Continuing Education: This program is approved for 9.0 contact hours for nurses. For successful completion of this activity and to obtain credit hours, the learner must review the individual modules/content and obtain a minimum passing score of 70%.
• Cost: Free

Below you will find trainings and resources that will help you enhance your mental health literacy and better communicate about mental health.

Note: These courses contain discussions about suicide, which may be triggering for some participants. If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) at 988.

Mental Health, Stigma, and Communication

(Source: The University of Texas at Austin 2021)

Description: This course is designed to highlight the importance of communicating effectively about mental health. By the end of the course, participants should be able to describe how language can contribute to stigma regarding mental illnesses, identify how stigma impacts the provider-patient relationship, and recognize opportunities to be more thoughtful in the use of language when treating patients with mental illnesses.

• Length: The estimated time to complete this activity is 45 minutes
• Continuing Education: This program is approved for .75 CME credits and .75 CNE contact hours
• Cost: Free

Learn Mental Health Literacy

(Source: The University of British Columbia 2021)

• Description: This course provides a foundation of mental health literacy, including effective strategies to use in your educational settings and in your own life.
• Length: The estimated time to complete this activity is 8 to 10 hours.
• Continuing Education: None
• Cost: Free

Teach Mental Health Literacy

(Source: The University of British Columbia 2021)

• Description: This course is designed to help educators apply a better understanding of mental health literacy in the classroom and to all aspects of an educator’s own circumstances. The course includes a classroom-ready mental health curriculum for delivery to students aged 12 to 19.
• Length: The estimated time to complete this activity is 6 to 8 hours
• Continuing Education: None
• Cost: Free

Below you will find curricula and materials to not only help people with low literacy skills, but also to help train and educate adults and teens about health, communicating with healthcare professionals, and finding reliable information sources.

Is This Legit? Accessing Valid and Reliable Health Information

(Source: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse 2021)

Description: Health literacy can play a role in how teens interpret health messages. Use this 35-minute lesson plan to help build high-school students’ health literacy skills. You can deliver the lesson in-person or in a virtual learning environment. At the end of the lesson, students should be able to

• Identify and use reputable sources that provide high-quality health information.
• Describe how various sources of information (e.g., family, friends, peers, schools, culture, social media, news media) influence their personal health behaviors.

The lesson plan provides teacher prompts and includes a worksheet to help students evaluate sources.

Talking With Your Doctor Presentation Toolkit

(Source: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging 2014)

Description: The toolkit (slides, speaker notes, and handouts) is for a senior center administrator, nurse, or another intermediary to lead a 45-minute interactive session that builds older adults’ capacity for navigating the healthcare system. The kit includes practical tips to make the most of medical visits, including how to get ready for an appointment, share health concerns, and make collaborative decisions about care. It’s evidence-based and repurposed from the popular booklet on doctor-patient communication.

Educate people about health, communicating with healthcare professionals, and finding reliable health information sources.

Staying Healthy Curriculum for English Learners and Adult Learners’ Handbooks on Women’s Health and Coping with Stress

(Source: Florida Literacy Coalition 2010)

Staying Healthy is a curriculum written at a 4^th-5^th grade reading level and is suitable for high beginning/low intermediate level ESOL learners and above.

Expecting the Best: A Health and Wellness Curriculum for English as a Second Language (ESL)

(Source: Expecting the Best 2009)

Expecting the Best is a program that teaches adults with limited English proficiency about health and wellness through English as a Second Language classes. The program is designed to improve health literacy, functional literacy, and communication skills.

Adult Education Teaching and Training Materials for Health

(Source: National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy 2007)

These resources are designed for professional development staff and adult education teachers. Training materials are guides for professional development activities that help teachers develop their own health literacy skills. Teaching materials are guides for classroom activities that educators can use to develop adult students’ literacy skills and knowledge of particular content.

Good Questions for Good Health

(Source: University of Georgia’s Center for Health and Risk Communication: A National Institute on Aging funded project)

Good Questions for Good Health is a program that advances interactive health literacy skills in older adults by partnering with Meals on Wheels programs. The toolkit provides materials for implementing the program, including health literacy coach training, videos demonstrating good interactive health literacy skills, print materials such a brochure, notepad, and calendar, as well as an evaluation form.

World Education Health Literacy Curricula Collection

(Source: World Education)

World Education has collected links to many health literacy curricula for a variety of learners and learning objectives. Two sections include links to curricula for teaching health literacy skills to adult learners and the general public. A third section includes training for literacy and health professionals to better address health literacy in their settings.

Below you will find trainings to communicate with patients and the public about the benefits, harms, and risks of health-related decisions and to apply these practices in your health care or public health practice.

The SHARE Approach

(Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 2015)

• Description: The SHARE approach is a five-step process for shared decision making. Health professionals can sign up for a webinar or in-person workshop or use the online materials.
• Length: Workshop is 1 day, and webinar is 1.5 hours
• Continuing Education: Free continuing education for multiple professions
• Cost: Free

Making Informed Consent an Informed Choice

• Description: AHRQ has two continuing education activities to improve the informed consent process, one for hospital executives and the other for health care professionals.
• Length: 1.5 hours
• Continuing Education: None
• Cost: Free for multiple professions