How to Consider Health Literacy in Digital Health Interventions?

Digital health interventions (DHIs) are designed to prevent, manage or treat health conditions using evidence-based methods. Ensuring that these interventions are both accessible and that the content is understandable to diverse user groups, regardless of their digital, data and health literacy, is critical to reducing health inequalities and achieving optimal health outcomes. This paper aims to synthesize information essential for the development of inclusive DHIs by conducting a literature review to identify best practices in patient communication skills and strategies. These practices emphasize the importance of tailoring information to patients’ knowledge, needs, preferences, and literacy levels; simplifying language and reducing medical jargon; breaking information down into manageable chunks to facilitate patient engagement and understanding; and checking patient understanding. To embody these principles, DHIs must have adaptable content delivery mechanisms, language simplification options, and the ability to segment information based on individual user needs. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance these aspects by enabling personalized content delivery and simplifying complex language. Incorporating health literacy and accessibility considerations from the outset of DHI design and development is critical to promoting equitable and effective digital health solutions, ultimately leading to improved health outcomes. Future research should on the one hand explore the specific support mechanisms, such as visual aids or explanatory content, that users need to fully understand the information presented by DHIs, and on the other hand develop applicable metrics to measure inclusive design.