Health Literacy: The Earlier the Better

摘要

The purpose of the action research project was to increase health literacy levels of South Carolina adolescents who attend a public school in a rural area through the integration of a state-wide, Internet, objective-based, health-related curriculum. The project used resources obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's youth website, Body and Mind. The health ranking outcomes for the state of South Carolina is was 19 out 50 states. Implementing a structured curriculum across the state of South Carolina would be an effective and efficient method to ensure adolescents have the opportunity to increase their health awareness and disease prevention knowledge levels. Quantitative data was collected from the Short Assessment Health Literacy Survey, SAHL, and used for analysis. The project investigated the impact an increase in Internet-based, health-related exposure at the secondary educational level would have on the health literacy levels of the targeted population. The participants were given the posttest at the conclusion of the study and the results were analyzed. The results were not significant and did not show favorable support to the implementation of the increased exposure to the health literacy resources located on the CDC youth website, BAM.