Health Literacy: “The ability to access, understand, evaluate, and use information and services in ways the promote and sustain health and wellness.”1
- Personal: Individual’s ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform decision making regarding their health and actions for themselves and others.2
- Ability to read and comprehend health-related information
- Ability to analyze health-related information
- Understanding of instructions relating to provider recommendations and medication administration
- Ability to use information to weigh the risk and benefits of particular health-related decisions and services.
- The ability to make informed, not just appropriate, decisions and take action to protect one’s health.
- Organizational: Organization’s equitably enabling individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform their decision making regarding their health and actions for themselves and others.2
- Healthcare organizations and systems have a responsibility to ensure individuals’ understanding.2
Low health literacy leads to failure in disease management and medication adherence.3 This may be because …
- Individuals are not familiar with medical terms or how their bodies work.4 This may lead to underestimations regarding the severity of their condition, or the necessity of consistent adherence to improve their health outcomes.
- Individuals are unable to interpret statistical data to evaluate the risks and benefits that impact their health, such as seeking care or taking prescription medication.4
- Individuals cannot understand the labels and instructions of their medication.5
- Individuals are unable to accurately report their symptoms to healthcare professionals.5 For instance, this may include individuals failing to explain their symptoms to healthcare providers, from their condition or prescribed medications.5
Groups with Disproportionate Rates of Limited Health Literacy:5
- Individuals aged 65+
- Individuals of low socioeconomic status and at a low income level
- Individuals with limited education
- People identifying as racial minorities (ex: Latino, Black, or American Indian/Alaska Natives)
- People with limited English proficiency and/or non-native speakers
- Individuals insured via Medicaid or Medicare
- Individuals who have no health insurance
The Impact of Limited Health Literacy:5
- Medication administration errors
- Difficulty understanding and following healthcare plans from providers
- Challenges managing the complexity of chronic conditions
- Reduced utilization of preventive services
- Longer hospital stays, increased hospital readmissions, and increased utilization of ER department
- Higher mortality rates
Research has found that almost 75% of primary care patients cannot accurately describe their medication regimen, with 46% misinterpreting either the dosage or timing of their prescriptions.6
The Social Media Epidemic of Misinformation on Health Literacy
- Social media significantly contributes to the rapid spread of misinformation, with the ability for global outreach.7 Via the spread of misinformation, oversimplification of complex health-related topics, and challenges in distinguishing credible versus unreliable sources, social media may contribute to reductions in health literacy.
- Social media platforms allow for the instant publication of information, regardless of qualifications and information accuracy.7
- Social media algorithms push content that aligns with user interests and views, resulting in the large omission of content that challenges or opposes individual’s beliefs. This may consolidate people’s ideologies and beliefs because they do not see opposing information.
- Social media “bots” often automatically reshare content, often relating to controversial health topics.7
- Many self-proclaimed health and wellness influencers spread misinformation via social media to gain economic profits. This is arguably due to social media platforms being unregulated in regards to misinformation, allowing influencers and brands to monetize off of misinformation without violation of platforms’ community guidelines.7
- Social media capitalizes on human’s susceptibility to confirmation bias, disseminating large amounts of algorithmic content that aligns with users interests and views, this overload can result in misinformation being perceived as more “true” or believable.7
- Research suggests that the proportion of health-related misinformation across popular social media platforms may be up to 28.8%.8
The Implications of Limited Health Literacy on Medication Adherence
The Consequences of Non-Adherence:
- Contributes to an estimated 125,000 deaths annually.10
- Costs the American healthcare system over $100 billion in preventable healthcare costs annually.10
Limited Health Literacy’s Associated with Non-Adherence
- Limited health literacy has been associated with increased unintentional non-adherence, such as forgetting to take one’s medication.9
- Limited health literacy has also been associated with increased intentional non-adherence, such as not taking medication due to medication costs or temporary alleviation of symptoms.9
Patients with limited health literacy may be at greater risk for non-adherence due to … 10
- Patients not understanding the need for their medications, the common side effects of their medications, or the need for consistent adherence to see symptom improvement (ex: SSRIs take 6-8 weeks before reaching their full effect).
- Patients may not experience symptoms from their condition. Without awareness of the importance of taking their medication and the potential complications from not taking it, they may not take and/or discontinue their medication as they do not believe they need it.
- Patients’ suspicions from misinformation, historical distrust in the healthcare system, and/or their condition may result in skepticism regarding their medications, reducing adherence.
- Patients living with chronic conditions may experience concerns about becoming dependent on their medications and worry about their addictive properties without proper information and reinforcement of the necessity of long-term adherence.
How AdhereTech Enhances Health Literacy To Improve Medication Adherence:
AdhereTech’s smart devices are designed to address barriers to medication adherence, included limited health literacy. Combining technology, patient-centered design, and simplicity, AdhereTech promotes prolonged adherence across varying health literacy levels.
- Clear and accessible language11
- AdhereTech communicates dosing instructions and reminders via clear, easy-to-understand language, reducing confusion and helping patients take their medication as prescribed.
- Simplifying medication instructions.
- AdhereTech’s smart devices reduce patient burden, providing a series of reminders that alter patients on when to take their medications, helping patients follow their regimens more accurately.
- Tailor messages to diverse patient populations.11
- AdhereTech allows for messaging to be customized to different cultural, linguistic, and literacy needs, ensuring each patient receives information they can easily understand.
- Assistive technology.11
- AdhereTech’s devices serve as a built-in adherence aid, guiding patients in following their dosing regimen and reducing errors caused by forgetfulness or misunderstanding.
- Offer translation of health materials into multiple languages..11
- AdhereTech’s platform, Aidia System, can deliver reminders and instructions in multiple languages, increasing accessibility for non-native English speakers.
- Encouraging questions.12
- By offering clear prompts, feedback, and allowing for the immediate reporting of adverse side effects, AdhereTech encourages patients to engage with their providers and clarify uncertainties about their treatment. Furthermore, real-time data transmission to specialty pharmacies and trial sites allows providers to pro-actively follow up with patients to address any questions or concerns they may have regarding their medication.
- Reducing barriers to using digital tools and need for internet connectivity.13
- AdhereTech’s devices are designed to minimize patient burden, resembling a standard pill bottle with built-in reminders to ensure ease of use while promoting adherence. AdhereTech’s devices all function via the cellular 4G network, making them accessible to patients without or with limited internet access.
- Increase the reliability and accuracy of information.13
- The Aidia System has the ability to disseminate evidence-based medication information guidance, approved by trial sites or specialty pharmacies, reducing patients reliance on potentially inaccurate or confusing sources.
- Design user-friendly, culturally appropriate digital tools and tailored support to promote equitable access of digital tools.13
- AdhereTech’s devices are intuitive and designed to meet diverse patient needs, supporting equitable access to adherence technology. With three forms of reminders, including a gentle glow, chimes, and SMS messages, AdhereTech ensures that patients with visual or auditory impairments have access to reliable adherence technology. Furthermore, the ability to customize medication reminder messages reflect cultural responsiveness.
- Enhance data collection across marginalized groups, including underserved demographic, geographic, and rare condition populations.13
- AdhereTech’s transcendence of language barriers via universally understandable reminders, including lights and chimes, ensures that all patients are able to understand their medication regimen. Additionally, the translation services enable the devices to support patient populations throughout the globe, supporting linguistic and cultural needs. By collecting adherence data in real-time across the globe, the device documents trends and gaps in care that allow healthcare providers to tailor interventions and enhance outcomes for all patient populations.
One’s ability to access, understand, evaluate, and effectively utilize health information and services to promote their mental and physical well-being is a critical component for promoting medication adherence. Those with limited health literacy may face challenges in reading or comprehending health-related information, understanding medication prescription instructions, weighing the risk and benefits of treatment options, or communicating medication or condition-related symptoms to their providers. Collectively, these challenges can lead to both intentional and unintentional non-adherence. For example, individuals may not prioritize accessing their prescriptions due to cost if they do not believe they need the medications or do not comprehend the significance of their condition. If their social media algorithms confirm beliefs, this may further reduce their likelihood of taking medications and/or non-adherence. On the other hand, for those who gain access to their medication, they may be confused on the correct timing and dosage of their prescription, leading to unintended misadministration.
Notably, certain populations are disproportionately impacted by these challenges, including older adults, individuals with lower income and education levels, racial minorities, non-native English speakers, and those with public or no health insurance coverage. Low health literacy levels not only put patients at a disadvantage of navigating the healthcare system, but increase patients risk of hospitalization, worsened health outcomes, and death, costing the United States over $100 billion each year. However, each of these broad consequences are listed as preventable, and by addressing health literacy, we can help to reduce economic strains on our healthcare system, improve patients’ prognosis, and reduce deadly outcomes.
AdhereTech addresses these barriers through patient-centered smart devices that are designed to enhance health literacy and promote adherence. By using clear, accessible language, simplifying instructions, tailoring messaging to diverse populations, providing translation, and reducing technological barriers, AdhereTech empowers patients to not only take their medications accurately, but consistently. Real-time data collection allows providers to proactively engage with patients, improving outcomes across diverse populations and promoting equitable access to care.
By integrating technology, education, and patient-centered design, AdhereTech highlights that improving health literacy is not just about increasing patients’ understanding, it’s about providing patients with the necessary tools that enable them to take action to sustain their health and wellness.
References
1 Bozkurt, F. D., Önder, Ç., Yıldızdal, C., & Ardıç, A. (2025). The Impact of Health Literacy on Medication Adherence and Acceptance in COVID‐19 Patients With Home Monitoring. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 2025(1), 5554009
2 National Institutes of Health. (2025, February 25). Health literacy. NIH Office of the Director, Office of Communications and Public Liaison, Clear Communication. https://www.nih.gov/institutes-nih/nih-office-director/office-communications-public-liaison/clear-communication/health-literacy (nih.gov)
3 Kilic, H. F., Dag, S., & MSc, S. (2020). The relationship between health literacy and medication adherence in a hypertensive patient population. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 13(1), 101-7.
4 World Health Organization. (2024, August 5). Health literacy [Fact sheet]. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/health-literacy (who.int)
5 Center for Health Care Strategies. (2024, March). Health literacy fact sheets [Fact sheet series]. https://www.chcs.org/media/Health-Literacy-Fact-Sheets_2024.pdf (chcs.org)
6 Bailey, S. C., Oramasionwu, C. U., & Wolf, M. S. (2013). Rethinking adherence: a health literacy-informed model of medication self-management. Journal of health communication, 18 Suppl 1(Suppl 1), 20–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2013.825672
7 Denniss, E., & Lindberg, R. (2025). Social media and the spread of misinformation: infectious and a threat to public health. Health promotion international, 40(2), daaf023
8 Borges do Nascimento, I. J., Pizarro, A. B., Almeida, J. M., Azzopardi-Muscat, N., Gonçalves, M. A., Björklund, M., & Novillo-Ortiz, D. (2022). Infodemics and health misinformation: a systematic review of reviews. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 100(9), 544–561. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.21.287654
9 Borges do Nascimento, I. J., Pizarro, A. B., Almeida, J. M., Azzopardi-Muscat, N., Gonçalves, M. A., Björklund, M., & Novillo-Ortiz, D. (2022). Infodemics and health misinformation: a systematic review of reviews. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 100(9), 544–561. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.21.287654
10 Staff News Writer. (2023, February 22). 8 reasons patients don’t take their medications. American Medical Association. https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/ama-steps-forward-program/8-reasons-patients-dont-take-their-medications
11 Center for Health Care Strategies. (2024, March). How improving health literacy can advance health equity. https://www.chcs.org/resource/how-improving-health-literacy-can-advance-health-equity/
12 Bradley University Online. (n.d.). How to improve health literacy? 6 steps for success. https://onlinedegrees.bradley.edu/blog/how-to-improve-health-literacy
13 Fitzpatrick P. J. (2023). Improving health literacy using the power of digital communications to achieve better health outcomes for patients and practitioners. Frontiers in digital health, 5, 1264780. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdgth.2023.1264780