| Course | NUR-7110 Nursing Informatics Consumer Informatics and Communications Technologies |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 2 |
| Paper type | Consumer informatics paper: health literacy and eHealth literacy |
| Length | About 1,051 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | M.S. in Nursing, Nursing Informatics |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NUR 7110 Module 2
Six Kinds of Literacy, One Diabetes Portal: Designing for Patients Who Find Health Information Hard to Use in Passaic
Student Name
M.S. in Nursing, Nursing Informatics, Thomas Edison State University
NUR-7110: Nursing Informatics: Consumer Informatics and Communications Technologies
Mentor Name
Month Day, Year
Six Kinds of Literacy, One Diabetes Portal: Designing for Patients Who Find Health Information Hard to Use in Passaic
The Plan and Its Risk
The health center and its patients are invented for illustration. A federally qualified health center in Passaic serves about 22,000 patients, many of them immigrants from Latin America and South Asia, and about 3,100 have type 2 diabetes. The center plans to add a diabetes section to its portal with articles on blood sugar, medicines, foot care and food, written by its diabetes educators. A draft of the first article ran to 1,400 words at roughly a tenth-grade reading level, with terms such as glycemic control and hypoglycemia. The informatics nurse leading the project warned that content written this way might reach only the patients who need it least.
Why Health Literacy Matters
Berkman et al. (2011) systematically reviewed studies of health literacy and health outcomes. Across the studies, people with limited health literacy were admitted more often, used emergency departments more and were less likely to get a mammogram or a flu vaccine. They had more difficulty taking medicines correctly and reading labels, and older adults with limited literacy had worse overall health and died sooner. Evidence on whether literacy also explains differences between racial and ethnic groups was more limited. The review made clear that literacy is not a minor inconvenience but a factor linked to serious outcomes.
More Than Reading
Norman and Skinner (2006a) defined eHealth literacy as being able to look for, locate, make sense of and judge electronic health information and then use it on a real health problem. They proposed that it draws on six literacies: traditional literacy and numeracy, health literacy, information literacy, scientific literacy, media literacy and computer literacy. They pictured these as the petals of a lily, each needed, and argued that weakness in any one can limit a person's ability to use online health information even if the others are strong. A patient who reads well may still be unable to judge whether a website is trustworthy, and a patient comfortable with a phone may not understand numbers on a glucose log.
The model changed the project's question. Readability formulas measure only the first petal. The portal also had to work for patients who struggled with numbers, had never used a website for health, or could not tell the center's advice from a supplement seller's.
Measuring eHealth Literacy
Norman and Skinner (2006b) developed the eHealth Literacy Scale, eight items on which people rate their own knowledge, comfort and skill at finding, evaluating and using electronic health information. In testing with young people, the eight items hung together well and measured one underlying skill. Because it measures self-perceived skill, it may overestimate the ability of people who are confident but inaccurate, and it does not test actual performance.
The informatics nurse and two medical assistants offered the scale, in English and Spanish, to 150 patients with diabetes at visits, along with three questions about how they look for health information. Scores were low to moderate for most patients, and lower among those over 60 and those with fewer years of schooling. Twelve patients took part in longer interviews.
| Literacy | What the screening and interviews showed |
|---|---|
| Traditional and numeracy | Many patients could not interpret a glucose log with ranges |
| Health | Terms such as hypoglycemia unfamiliar to most |
| Information | Most searched by voice on a phone, not by typing |
| Scientific | Few knew why advice changes over time |
| Media | Several trusted social media videos over clinic advice |
| Computer | Most used phones only; few had a computer at home |
Redesigning With Patients
The project replaced the long articles with short pages written at about a sixth-grade level, each answering one question that patients had asked, such as "What do I do if my sugar is low?" Each page has a short video in English and Spanish featuring the center's own educators, and the most important action appears first, in a box. Numbers are shown with pictures, such as a glucose meter screen with a green, yellow and red range. Pages are designed for phones first, with large text and buttons. A page called "Is this video right?" explains how to tell the center's advice from advertising.
Six patients from the interviews reviewed drafts using teach-back: after reading or watching a page, they told a nurse, in everyday language, what they would now do. Pages that patients explained incorrectly were rewritten until most could.
Supporting Patients Beyond the Portal
The portal does not replace conversation. Medical assistants show each patient with diabetes how to find the section during a visit, and diabetes educators refer to specific pages when they teach. Patients without phones or data receive printed versions of the same pages.
Working Within the Center's Constraints
The redesign had to fit the center's resources. Two diabetes educators wrote the first twelve pages over two months, using a shared template that limited each page to 150 words plus a video. Videos were filmed on a phone in the center's education room, with captions added by a volunteer. Translation into Spanish was done by a bilingual medical assistant and checked by a second reader rather than by machine, because early machine translations confused medical terms. Pages in Bengali and Urdu, requested by patients in interviews, were placed on a list for the next grant cycle. The template also made the pages easier to update when guidance changes.
Measures
The center will track page views by language, teach-back success during visits, patient ratings of understanding, eHealth literacy scores at follow-up and diabetes control among patients who use the section and those who do not, with the caution that users may differ from non-users.
Limits
The eHealth Literacy Scale measures confidence rather than performance. A sample of 150 patients at visits excludes those who rarely come in. Better content cannot fix lack of internet access.
Conclusion
A draft written for educated readers would have missed most of the center's patients. Evidence linking low health literacy to poor outcomes made the problem urgent, Norman and Skinner's model showed that reading level was only one of six needs and their scale gave a quick way to measure. Short, visual pages tested with patients by teach-back give the portal a chance to reach the patients who need it most.
References
Berkman, N. D., Sheridan, S. L., Donahue, K. E., Halpern, D. J., & Crotty, K. (2011). Low health literacy and health outcomes: An updated systematic review. Annals of Internal Medicine, 155(2), 97-107. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-155-2-201107190-00005
Norman, C. D., & Skinner, H. A. (2006a). eHealth literacy: Essential skills for consumer health in a networked world. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 8(2), e9. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.8.2.e9
Norman, C. D., & Skinner, H. A. (2006b). eHEALS: The eHealth Literacy Scale. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 8(4), e27. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.8.4.e27
Reading the NUR 7110 Module 2 assignment instructions
TESU's catalog paragraph for NUR-7110 stresses user-centered design of health information for consumers, and because the syllabus for the course stays with enrolled students, module two is planned as an eHealth literacy paper. Expect to write a paper that explains health literacy and eHealth literacy with recognized models, reviews evidence on how literacy affects outcomes, measures literacy in the target population with a validated tool, identifies specific needs and redesigns consumer content or a tool with patients, testing it with a method such as teach-back. Some sections ask for a readability analysis of existing materials instead. Check whether the brief requires a specific readability formula or literacy screen and whether patient participation needs organizational approval. Describe the resources the redesign used, since a plan the organization cannot afford will not be built.
Inside the NUR 7110 Module 2 example
An invented Passaic health center's plan for a diabetes portal section and a draft article at a tenth-grade level open the paper. Evidence from a systematic review ties limited literacy to hospital use, missed prevention and, in older adults, death. Norman and Skinner's six-literacy model widens the question beyond reading, and their eight-item scale is used to screen 150 patients. A six-row table reports what screening and interviews showed for each literacy. Short visual pages, phone-first design and a page on judging videos follow, tested with patients by teach-back. Support beyond the portal, measures and limits precede the close. Annotations note the six literacies applied and the teach-back testing. A section on resources shows how two educators, a phone camera and a bilingual medical assistant produced the pages.
Where the marks sit in the NUR 7110 Module 2 rubric
Literacy papers earn credit for accurate explanation of health literacy and eHealth literacy, evidence on outcomes reported correctly, a validated measure used with its limits acknowledged, specific needs identified for each part of the model and content redesigned and tested with patients. Mentors value writers who see that reading level is only one part of the problem. Designing for phones and for patients who trust social media shows attention to how people actually seek information. Keeping printed versions for patients without internet shows equity. Two works by the same authors in the same year should be labeled 2006a and 2006b in APA style. A realistic account of the resources used makes the plan credible.
Common NUR 7110 Module 2 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Literacy papers often run a readability formula and stop; use a model that covers numbers, technology and judging sources too. Another common gap is designing content for patients without testing it on them. Screen with a validated tool, and say what it cannot measure. Put the most important action first. Use teach-back to check understanding. Keep options for patients without internet. Plan translation by people, not only software. Send your own population and brief for a free first draft built to the Passaic paper's level of detail.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Thomas Edison State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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NUR 7110 Module 2 questions, answered
Where can I find a free NUR 7110 Module 2 sample paper?
The eHealth literacy paper for an invented Passaic health center's diabetes portal, from the six-literacy table to teach-back testing, is reproduced on this page.
What is eHealth literacy?
The skill, as Norman and Skinner put it, of finding and judging health information online and then acting on it for a real problem.
What are the six literacies in the lily model?
Traditional literacy and numeracy, health, information, scientific, media and computer literacy.
What is the eHEALS?
An eight-item scale on which people rate their own skill at finding, evaluating and using electronic health information.
What outcomes are linked to low health literacy?
Berkman's review tied it to more hospital stays and emergency visits, fewer preventive services, more trouble with medicines and, in older adults, worse health and more deaths.