Visual Communication Design Collaboration with Occupational Therapy to Create Health Literacy Projects for Community Needs

Abstract

Low levels of health literacy directly correlate to increased mortality rates, decreased health outcomes and overall poorer quality of life. Many social determinants of health can place someone at a higher risk of low health literacy and the negative consequences of decreased skills in this area. Health literacy is a complex task that requires a multi-modal approach and interventions within a variety of spheres of influence in someone’s life. To address this issue in underinvested communities within their own city, teams of Visual Communication Design and Occupational Therapy students, with the support of their faculty and a librarian, worked together to identify a population of interest and pertinent health-related concerns. The result was an interdisciplinary team of students who utilised aspects of the Social Ecology Theory to create solutions and systems that utilised printed and digital modalities at the individual and community levels. This case study offers a model for interdisciplinary collaboration to address health literacy and improve the health outcomes of the population concerned.