Congress Abstracts 2005

118

DEVELOPMENT OF MULTILINGUAL LOW LITERACY TEACHING MATERIALS IN A DIVERSE COMMUNITY BASED HEALTH CARE SYSTEM. Eric Cohen, RN, BSN, OCN^®, and Lisa Cawthorne, RN, BSN, Life With Cancer, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, VA.

Community based oncology nurse educators develop and implement multilingual low literacy chemotherapy teaching materials for use in a diverse patient population.

The purpose of this project was to develop and provide take home teaching materials which are easily understood by both English and non-English speaking people undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

Fairfax County, Virginia is the 4th most ethnically diverse community in the United States. According to the most recent (2000) census, nearly 30% of the county’s residents report speaking a language other than English at home. Even with the advent of the Internet, cancer related materials in other languages are virtually non-existent (Spanish is the exception).

A second problem exists in that most cancer related teaching materials are developed at high school and college reading levels. Low literacy is a concern in the United States.

Low literacy teaching sheets were developed for Neutropenia, Anemia, Thrombocytopenia, and general chemotherapy side effect management. Specific directions on “When to call the doctor” were included. All sheets were limited to one to two pages and were translated into seven languages identified as most commonly needed.

To fulfill the needs of the community, the teaching materials will be available for use in all patient care settings. Materials are in the process of being translated at this time. Evaluations will include the discharge survey currently being used for Inova Health Care System and feedback from discharge follow up phone calls.

Oncology nurses express frustration and concern with the lack of material to teach specialized populations. Patients may not fully understand side-effect profiles, instructions, or self care measures because of anxiety, linguistic barriers, and reading level limitations. This presents a whole realm of discussion concerning the ethical and legal ramifications surrounding informed consent. It is the hope of the authors that these teaching materials will make patients and their families less anxious, better informed, and more able to participate in their care.