2026 Health Literacy Award Winners

Innovative Programs

AHU Health Literacy Integration

Jessica Daly – AdventHealth University

The AdventHealth University (AHU) Health Literacy Integration Program is a strategic initiative designed to embed clear communication, patient-centered education, and health literacy principles across academic, clinical, and community settings. This program equips students, faculty, healthcare professionals, and community members with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively communicate complex health information in ways that are understandable, actionable, and equitable. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, the program integrates health literacy into curricula, clinical training, and community outreach. Students learn to apply plain language, teach-back methods, and culturally responsive communication to improve patient understanding and engagement. Faculty are supported through professional development opportunities, resources, and mentorship to incorporate health literacy into teaching and scholarship. In partnership with clinical sites and community organizations, the program extends its impact beyond the classroom, addressing real-world gaps in communication that contribute to poor health outcomes. By focusing on reducing barriers such as medical jargon, low patient understanding, and inequitable access to information, the AHU Health Literacy Integration Program promotes safer care, improved adherence, and better overall health outcomes. This initiative reflects AHU’s commitment to Whole Person Education, advancing a healthcare workforce prepared to meet the diverse needs of patients and communities.

Emerging Voice

Health Literacy Made Easy: A Child Life Specialist’s Guide to Even Clearer Communication

Clare Kelley – Plain Health with Clare

Clare entered the health literacy field in 2024 after 4 years as a certified child life specialist (CCLS). In the Fall 2025 Association for Child Life Professionals (ACLP) bulletin, Clare created a health literacy guide for certified child life specialists to use in their practice. She shared practical strategies for incorporating developmentally appropriate plain language and accessible design in resources tailored to pediatric patients and caregivers. With her background in child life, Clare is a trusted voice in the CCLS community. She is committed to advancing health literacy and health equity, with a particular passion for pediatric patients and caregivers. In this unique intersection, Clare is well positioned to promote greater health literacy expertise among child life professionals — an essential clinical team in pediatric healthcare.

Written Materials

Hip and Knee Joint Replacement Guidebook

Jessica Chivers – Essentia Health

The Hip and Knee Joint Replacement Guidebook was created to provide patients with clear, consistent information to help them better understand their upcoming surgery and recovery. Before this project, patient education materials varied widely across surgery locations. Some were too complex, while others were too brief and missing important information.

To address this, the Patient Education department worked with a team of surgeons, nurses, rehabilitation experts, and administrative leaders to create one guidebook for the entire health system. The goal was to make the information clear, easy to understand, and useful for every patient.

The final guidebook follows health literacy best practices and gives patients the key information they need to feel prepared for surgery and recovery. By standardizing materials across all locations, the project improved consistency, reduced confusion, and made patient education more accessible.

International Initiatives

Cuidado Para Todos

Lucas Cardim and Davi Rios

Cuidado Para Todos is an online, open-source platform for the public health system in Brazil, where an estimated 40 million citizens are illiterate or functionally illiterate. Developed in 2020, the tool enables health professionals to quickly generate accessible, highly visual medical prescriptions for patients with low literacy, those with visual or hearing disabilities, the elderly, indigenous, and migrant populations. The prescriptions are augmented with validated educational icons, detailed illustrations for device use, and QR codes linking to explanatory videos. The project was built in partnership with the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) Design Department, which provided rigorous testing and validation methodology for the platform’s visual language.  The project is now being used all over Brazil, with plans to expand abroad through humanitarian efforts.

Research

A Health Literacy-informed Digital Health Behavior Intervention to Prevent Childhood Obesity : The Greenlight Plus Randomized Clinical Trial

Greenlight Plus Team

In the Greenlight Plus study, we enrolled 900 children and their parents, and randomly assigned them to receive Greenlight alone or Greenlight Plus a digital intervention. All families received Greenlight, which involved doctors sharing specially-designed booklets to guide families about healthy eating and activity. Families who received the digital intervention got text messages with health “tips” and set goals about healthy eating and activity. Those families also got their own app to track their health goals and their child’s weight. Families were followed from the time of their child’s birth until age 2 years. At 2 years old, fewer children in the Greenlight Plus group had obesity compared to the Greenlight group (7% compared to 13%). Greenlight Plus helped children at risk for obesity more. Main Takeaways: Starting healthy habits early, in the first months and years of life, can help prevent obesity and other health problems later in life. Tools like text messaging can make it easier for families to get, and take action on, advice about healthy eating and activity. Having materials to help doctors talk with families, along with text messaging and an app, can decrease the risk of obesity.