Unit 1: Getting Started
Case Study
Meet Stella. You are a community-based social worker you will be working with her in her home. She is a 35 year-old Asian immigrant from China who has been in the country for 15 years. She experienced a serious fall at work and spent several months in the hospital and a rehabilitation being treated at a facility before being discharged home into the community. Prior to her injury, she worked in her family business a small retail store. She is married with children. Speaks English well enough to communicate but has some limitations. She has difficulty managing community supports and her condition because she must use a wheelchair for now. How might you approach your work with her? Think about this as you proceed through the course work. We will revisit her and be working with her throughout the course.
Introduction
Health professionals share the responsibility of improving health literacy. Given that social workers are often client's intermediaries in the health care system; they bear a significant amount of the burden. However, training in the social work curriculum and field is lacking.
In this unit participants will get familiar with the course and do a few activities to prepare for examining health literacy and working with low literacy clients through the social work lens.
Objectives
- Participants will complete course prerequisites
- Participants will navigate a virtual learning environment
- Participants will test and reflect on their experiences and understanding of low health literacy
Purpose
Low health literacy is a major social concern. As health professionals, social workers must share in the responsibility. In order to do so, social workers have the knowledge and skills necessary to detect, assess and intervene with at risk clients in their practice.
Engage
- Read Vernon (2009) which covers the application of virtual worlds to social work practice
- Discuss Visit the Course Blog and introduce yourselves to your class mates under the post for Unit 1.
Apply
- Create an account at the virtual world environment Jokaydia Grid with these instructions
- Download and install the viewer application Imprudence and log-in using these directions
- Prepare to create a "pill card" an evidenced-based health literacy strategy to work with clients with low literacy using these directions
- Email me: agomes@gmail.com to set up a time to meet with me for 20 minutes in the virtual world for orientation.
- Take the low health literacy quiz
Reflect
- In a word document or an online journal (whatever you prefer) write your thoughts on what you understand about working with clients with low health literacy and social work interventions to work with clients who present with low health literacy.
References and Resources
Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (2008). How to create a pill card. Retrieved from http://www.ahrq.gov/patients-consumers/diagnosis-treatment/treatments/pillcard/
Center for Health Care Strategies (2013). What is health literacy? Retrieved from http://www.chcs.org/media/CHCS_Health_Literacy_Fact_Sheets_2013.pdf
Vernon, R., Lewis, L. & Lynch, D. (2009). Virtual worlds and social work education: Potentials for "Second Life". Advances in Social Work, 10(2): 176-192.
Virtual Worlds. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_world
Proceed to Unit 2: What is Health Literacy and its Societal Impact?
Course Home Page: Health Literacy for Social Work Professionals