For over 20 years, the month has brought hospitals, health centres, literacy programs, libraries, social service agencies, businesses, professional associations, government agencies and, consumer alliances, together to work collaboratively to integrate and expand the mission of health literacy.
What is meant by ‘health literacy’?
Health literacy refers to people’s skills, knowledge, and confidence that enables them to access, understand, evaluate, use and navigate health and social care information and services. A person’s ability to understand health information is linked to two key factors:
- Personal health literacy: The degree to which individuals can find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
- Organisational health literacy: The degree to which organisations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) believes that improving health literacy in populations “provides the foundation on which citizens are enabled to play an active role in improving their own health, engage successfully with community action for health, and push governments to meet their responsibilities in addressing health and health equity.”
The organisation’s role in improving health literacy
People spend around a third of their lives in the workplace, therefore, the workplace plays a key role in ensuring their employees have the ability to understand and access mental health services.
Indeed, educating employees about their health and healthcare is one of the best ways an organisation can help improve their wellbeing. Employers can demonstrate their commitment to promoting positive mental health by taking the following steps.
1) Develop managers’ skills
Good people management can help manage and prevent stress in employees which can be linked to common mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. It can also give employees a point of contact to receive support in the workplace.
2) Increase education to identify the early signs of mental health issues
Employers, managers and employees would benefit from being aware of the early signs of stress and mental ill health, and knowing how to respond. Doing so can enable employees to access mental health support, when they might otherwise have not sought help.
3) Make support easily accessible
Whether it’s via the intranet, a company poster, or regular email reminders, how and when an employee can access mental health support should be clearly and regularly signposted. This includes producing mental health materials and/or instructions on how to access mental health in different languages if required. It is also beneficial to have material that speaks to different religions and beliefs.
4) Review job roles and workloads
Unmanageable workloads are one of the main causes of work-related stress. Providing meaningful work with realistic timescales will help to manage the risk of work-related stress.
5) Promote awareness
Promoting awareness and educating the whole workforce about mental health can help to reduce the stigma of mental health and challenge common myths with facts.
6) Encourage a good work-life balance
Long work hours is not a sustainable way of operating and can take its toll on people. An appropriate balance between work and personal life means people remain refreshed, productive and mentally fit.
7) Offer flexible working
Offering more flexible working arrangements can help to prevent stress if someone wants a better work-life balance to suit their individual circumstances.
8) Address the risk of suicide
Organisations would deeply benefit from having a strategy to help prevent the risk of suicide as part of their mental health framework. Training and education for employees and managers on the signs of at-risk employees, along with steps to take if a person is identified as having suicidal thoughts, is advantageous.
Ultimately, a workplace should provide various platforms to improve their employees’ health literacy, from workshops and lunch-and-learns, to practical information on a company wellness portal. An overarching wellbeing policy can help kickstart mental health care in the workplace. A wellbeing policy should cover both physical and mental health. According to the WHO, it should:
- Begin with a clear statement which commits the organisation to foster a working environment that promotes employee health and wellbeing.
- Be supported by senior management.
- Be kept under constant review.
- Outline the responsibilities of key stakeholders including senior leaders, people in HR, occupational health officers and all employees.
- Set out the available advice, support and training to enhance employee wellbeing. Incorporate the process for evaluating the effectiveness of all wellbeing initiatives.
An organisation’s approach to wellbeing should also treat employees as individuals who require tailored support. However, no matter who the person is, it’s important to remember that the ability of any person to understand health information is affected by the clarity of the information provided. So, keep mental health access simple, inclusive and regularly communicated.
