Health literacy is an important health determinant. More than half of the population in German-speaking countries report low health literacy, which is related to worse health outcomes. One approach to improve health literacy is to reduce demands and complexities of healthcare organizations. Health literate organizations facilitate access, navigation, understanding and use of health information and services for the population to take care of their health. Despite the huge potential of health literate organizations, only few efforts have been taken to capitalize on it so far, especially in primary care settings of German-speaking countries. Therefore, the aim of the present project is to improve health literacy of primary care organizations by developing and validating a self-assessment-tool.

This self-assessment-tool allows primary care settings to assess and improve their potential as health literate organization. In a first step, we devised a checklist in regards to a self-assessment of six dimensions defining a health literate organization, e.g. clear and easy to understand communication, integration of health literacy in organizational structure and culture, staff training, strengthening health literacy skills of clients and on different interfaces. Based on the results, organizations are able to identify need for action, plan and implement improvement activities. Additionally, we composed a handbook describing a set of instruments and strategies to support the organizations’ improvement process. In a second step, we validated the tool in four family practices and eight outpatient care services in the canton of Zurich. For evaluation in terms of user-friendliness, usability and usefulness, we conducted focus groups with inter-professional staff members and expert interviews. A standardized questionnaire assessed development of professionals’ knowledge and attitudes regarding health literacy. Based on the evaluation results, we adapt the self-assessment-tool and provide all materials free of charge.