Today, was a scheduled day of rest (SRD as my one running friend refers to his unscheduled rest days as USRD). It made it easy as I didn't have to take my running stuff to the hotel where I stayed last night.
So, the rest of my day was spent at a meeting at the National Institute for Nursing Research (NINR). It was a meeting of individuals invited to discuss new research questions having to do with NINR's goal of focusing on wellness. The meeting was described as a brainstorming session. And at the start of the day today, the meeting was introduced as a chance to do what we always dreamed of doing in graduate school--talking about interesting research questions with colleagues.
One of the questions that we talked about was the most effective way to increase health literacy. As I joined in the discussion about this issue, I realized how much my thinking about this type of question had changed since I had moved into my position at the Carey Business School last April.
I raised the point that health literacy is not just something that is static. Asking a person about his or her health literacy is not like asking about their "highest level of educational attainment". I think that the process we ended up discussing is one that could actually be quite useful:
I think that the key is to think about how to lay the foundation for individuals to continue to build their health literacy over their lifespans.
The key is to consider how nurses and other health professionals fit into the production of this outcome, the quantity of resources needed, and the return on investment for the individuals and society. And to think about the business plan to make the process of assessing and improving health literacy in the population a profitable endeavor.
And how does all this relate to the rest of my life? A colleague recently suggested that my efforts to bring alive my 2000 mile virtual pilgrimage might be a way to help the kids (and with my emails to parents with the lesson plan each week--even their parents) stay in touch more with the church. In essence, building a framework for the kids to continue to build their spiritual literacy over a lifetime.
I've never really thought of it as spiritual literacy before, but this gives a new outlook to me as I continue to improve my own spiritual literacy and help the kids develop theirs.
So, the rest of my day was spent at a meeting at the National Institute for Nursing Research (NINR). It was a meeting of individuals invited to discuss new research questions having to do with NINR's goal of focusing on wellness. The meeting was described as a brainstorming session. And at the start of the day today, the meeting was introduced as a chance to do what we always dreamed of doing in graduate school--talking about interesting research questions with colleagues.
One of the questions that we talked about was the most effective way to increase health literacy. As I joined in the discussion about this issue, I realized how much my thinking about this type of question had changed since I had moved into my position at the Carey Business School last April.
I raised the point that health literacy is not just something that is static. Asking a person about his or her health literacy is not like asking about their "highest level of educational attainment". I think that the process we ended up discussing is one that could actually be quite useful:
- Assess the current level of health literacy
- Choose an intervention to give an immediate bump to health literacy
- As the individual searches for new information over time provide information that is in line with the level of health literacy demonstrated at the completion of the initial intervention and continue to try to increase the literacy
- The last point will allow the individual to learn about new conditions she has, new conditions her children may encounter, and new conditions her parents may encounter
I think that the key is to think about how to lay the foundation for individuals to continue to build their health literacy over their lifespans.
The key is to consider how nurses and other health professionals fit into the production of this outcome, the quantity of resources needed, and the return on investment for the individuals and society. And to think about the business plan to make the process of assessing and improving health literacy in the population a profitable endeavor.
And how does all this relate to the rest of my life? A colleague recently suggested that my efforts to bring alive my 2000 mile virtual pilgrimage might be a way to help the kids (and with my emails to parents with the lesson plan each week--even their parents) stay in touch more with the church. In essence, building a framework for the kids to continue to build their spiritual literacy over a lifetime.
I've never really thought of it as spiritual literacy before, but this gives a new outlook to me as I continue to improve my own spiritual literacy and help the kids develop theirs.
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