Health Literacy of Refugee Populations

Margaret S. Zimmerman, an Assistant Professor with the University of Iowas UI School of Library and Information Science SLIS requests a grant for a pilot program to develop and implement a health literacy training for refugee women living in Johnson and Linn counties in Iowa. Building upon the PIs current body of research into the health information needs of refugee women and using National Library of Medicine resources, trainings will be developed in collaboration with scholars from the UIs Language, Literacy, and Culture program and from UIs School of Public Health. These trainings will be administered by SLIS students with the assistance of local translators, if needed. Once completed, the result of this project will be a cohesive, vetted curriculum designed to improve the health literacy and, ultimately, health information access and outcomes of refugee women and their families.