Write's top five blogs for 2013

Which of our blog posts did you click most last year? We blog about all kinds of topics. The value of clear writing — financially and philosophically. Grammar — everyone wants to know about the debates and the options. Financial literacy. Language usability. Books from our shelves. Our own pet peeves.

Here’s the 2013 hit parade — the top five posts from our blog Write Clearly.

1. Think like a Tui ad!
Yeah, right. No, really! Tui ads are short, succinct, and perfectly pitched to their audience, says Lynda Harris. But what’s special about the one that she posted on Tui’s DIY billboard at their factory?
Read how to think like a Tui ad 

2. Do you take your lists with or without semicolons?
Anne-Marie Chisnall describes the science behind readability and visual clutter.
Read more about more readability and visual clutter

3. A conversation about health literacy
In our 'Conversations' blog series, Rosie Knight talks to health providers about the techniques they use to make sure that communication with their patients works well both ways. She also delves into why health literacy improves patient outcomes, and saves health dollars. In this conversation Rosie talks to Lorna Bingham, Diabetes Nurse Specialist.
Read Rosie's conversation with Lorna Bingham

4. Poor writing is not sustainable
Too many New Zealand businesses don't realise the huge impact that unsustainable business practices are having on their bottom line. Diana Burns quotes sustainability consultant Annette Lusk. And Diana writes that sustainable writing has a huge impact on profits.
Read more about making business writing sustainable

5. Taking issue with issues (and other such euphemisms)
Diana Burns finds a kindred spirit in columnist Joe Bennett, with his attack on the word ‘provider’ (as in internet provider, education provider, and health provider). She reveals a trick we use at Write for generating ‘noun strings’, and why they are terrible things.
Read more about taking issue with issues
Click to tweet: Write’s top five blogs for 2013

A conversation about health literacy with diabetes nurse Sera Tapu-Ta'ala

I had a conversation about health literacy with Sera Tapu-Ta’ala, Diabetes Nurse Specialist at Kenepuru Hospital, Capital & Coast District Health Board.

Language is what connects families and communities. Dialogues and conversations in the respective Pacific languages is the ideal way in which Pacific people share tasks and support each other to manage a family member’s diabetes, or an individual themselves. Language is one key element in health literacy. It is critical to acknowledge that health literacy is a resource of a family and a community.

Sera’s work is predominantly within the Porirua area. She says that her visiting territory in Porirua is like a village. It has its own structure. Sera’s work in Porirua is shaped by the stories that tie its people to each other.

Stories are the Pacific way to share tasks and experiences. The families Sera visits are a resource—for information, teaching and learning, encouraging adherence and achieving goals. Family members are eyes and ears for each other. When Sera cares for someone with diabetes, she is developing the health literacy of the family.

The patients guide the learning
There’s a lot to learn when you have a long-term condition like diabetes. When Sera is working one-to-one with her patients, she asks open-ended questions, and lets her patients guide the learning. Not being ‘the teacher’ and giving them space to tell their stories lets patients do the learning.

When they talk about how impaired and unwell they feel, Sera interprets the tasks of managing diabetes, so that they develop the skills and knowledge to feel better. She writes down goals and targets, and uses diagrams to explain highs and lows. She uses the “teach back” strategy to seek clarity and to ensure an equal understanding and interpretation of a particular situation has been attained. She chooses language carefully. As a fluent Samoan speaker, she always uses the formal Samoan language for the older people, or those who prefer to speak in the Samoan language. People respond when the language you use is appropriate and simplified.

Spreading the word
Pacific churches play an integral part in the lives of most NZ-based Pacific people. Radio programs on the respective Pacific radios also have an important part. Sera now has a monthly slot on the Samoan radio in Wellington and hopes to extend time to other Pacific Radios. She knows that church is where the people are, and the radio is the means to reach them - so that’s where to take the messages.

— Rosie Knight


Go to our website for links to more blogs about health literacy

Read about our workshop Writing Health Information Clearly

Read about Rosie Knight
 

Don't make bad news worse

Early definitions of 'health literacy' focused on the reader's ability to understand and use health information - as we discussed back in June. Recent work brings the health practitioner who writes or gives the health information into the definition.

Later, I'm going to blog about the financial cost to the country of poor health literacy, but let Elspeth Murray tell you about the human cost of badly-presented health information. As Elspeth's poem 'This is bad enough' reminds us, when you get bad news about your health, you want health information that cares about you. It should be clear, relevant, up to date, and make the reader feel it's written for them.

Go to our website for links to more blogs about health literacy

Read about our workshop Writing Health Information Clearly