Health Systems and Adult Basic Education: A Critical Partnership in Supporting Digital Health Literacy

The potential benefit of using technology to increase patients' engagement in their health care rests on the assumption that patients have access to the Internet and devices, and also possess the skills to use both. The definition of literacy changes as new technologies emerge (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, Castek, & Henry, 2013); however, regardless of the technology used, whether ink and paper or pixels and screens, being literate involves decoding and comprehending words as well as understanding and interpreting the world (Friere & Macedo, 1987). [...]to be literate requires individuals to be able to make sense of texts across a variety of media and then apply that to their daily lives. Access to broadband Internet service is so critical that the American Medical Informatics Association (2017) urged the Federal Communications Commission to “consider access to broadband among the social determinants of health when developing future policies and programs” (para 1). [...]the increased dependence on technology in the realm of health creates a barrier to care for those who have limited Internet access or low digital literacy skills, which threatens to add another layer of disparity.