Kidney health for all: bridging the gap in kidney health education and literacy

Abstract

The high burden of kidney disease, global disparities in kidney care, and poor outcomes of kidney failure bring a concomitant growing burden to persons affected, their families, and carers, and the community at large. Health literacy is the degree to which persons and organizations have or equitably enable individuals to have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to make informed health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others. Rather than viewing health literacy as a patient deficit, improving health literacy largely rests with health care providers communicating and educating effectively in codesigned partnership with those with kidney disease. For kidney policy makers, health literacy provides the imperative to shift organizations to a culture that places the person at the center of health care. The growing capability of and access to technology provides new opportunities to enhance education and awareness of kidney disease for all stakeholders. Advances in telecommunication, including social media platforms, can be leveraged to enhance persons’ and providers’ education; The World Kidney Day declares 2022 as the year of “Kidney Health for All” to promote global teamwork in advancing strategies in bridging the gap in kidney health education and literacy. Kidney organizations should work toward shifting the patient-deficit health literacy narrative to that of being the responsibility of health care providers and health policy makers. By engaging in and supporting kidney health–centered policy making, community health planning, and health literacy approaches for all, the kidney communities strive to prevent kidney diseases and enable living well with kidney disease.

Effectiveness of teach‐back for chronic kidney disease patient education: A systematic review

“…This approach probably facilitated a closer nurse-patient relationship to be established and face-to-face teaching has been recommended to improve fluid and dietary adherence in those on HD (Yangöz et al, 2021). Choi and Choi (2021) found that nurse-led, teach-back interven- Langham et al, 2022;Shah et al, 2021). As those with limited health literacy mostly rely on HCPs for information, the delivery of health information in a clear and concise manner using simple language and nonmedical terms is essential to facilitate understanding.…”

“…In addition, none of the studies included in the present review investigated health literacy as an outcome of using teach‐back as strategy to improve health literacy and self‐management. Health provider communication, patient reinforcement, and education and training can benefit patients' health literacy (Dinh et al, 2022; Langham et al, 2022; Shah et al, 2021). As those with limited health literacy mostly rely on HCPs for information, the delivery of health information in a clear and concise manner using simple language and nonmedical terms is essential to facilitate understanding.…”

“…In CKD, previous studies have reported health literacy deficit in one or more of these dimensions (Boyer et al, 2021; Dinh et al, 2020; Stømer et al, 2019). Recent literature has argued that HCPs are key to improving health literacy through effective communication with patients (Dinh et al, 2022; Langham et al, 2022), and it is thought that improving communication will enable critical health literacy skills to also improve thereby increasing adherence to treatment. Thus, information provision using an effective communication approach is essential.…”

World Kidney Day; previous experience influences future directions

“…World Kidney Day is an annual global awareness campaign held on the second Thursday of March with the primary objective of raising awareness about the importance of kidney health and reducing the burden of kidney disease worldwide. As practicing nephrologists, this day holds profound significance as it allows us to reflect on our experiences and contemplate future directions in kidney care and research (1,2).…”