Limited health literacy is a persistent problem across the United States. Defined as the ability to locate, understand, and use health related information and services to make informed decisions for oneself and others, national surveys reveal that nearly 9 out of 10 U.S. adults and approximately two-thirds of school aged adolescents demonstrate some degree of health literacy deficit. For Native Americans and Alaska Natives (NA/AN) limited health literacy is particularly burdensome due to its intersection with significant health disparities prevalent in those populations.

Researchers are collaborating with Native American Nations to develop a health literacy learning platform that addresses NA/AN community health concerns, prepares youths to manage those health concerns, and prepares them to successfully interact with healthcare institutions. Investigators are developing a prototype web-based learning platform (HealthyU-Native) that reflects the insights of NA/AN youths and key community members. HealthyU-Native builds on and enhances an existing evidence-supported health literacy curriculum, HealthyU, that has been shown to improve youth knowledge, skills, and confidence regarding health literacy. HealthyU-Native will feature culturally adapted content, engaging multimedia, and interactive exercises that offer NA/AN youths meaningful health literacy learning experiences.