Abstract
The Sarah Mazelis Paper of the Year Award recognizes authors whose peer-reviewed articles in Health Promotion Practice have made significant contributions to advancing the practice of health education and health promotion programs, policy, or professional preparation. Sarah Mazelis was a health educator and member of the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) who was renowned for her dedication to improving health education practice. She died at a relatively young age, at which time the SOPHE board raised funds to be used in her honor and approved a proposal to use the funds for this award. Each year, the journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor, and Associate Editors select from a volume of six issues of Health Promotion Practice and vote on the best paper of the year. The $1,000 award is presented at the SOPHE Annual Meeting.
Congratulations to the recipient of the 2014 Sarah Mazelis Paper of the Year Award for Health Promotion Practice!
Sarah Mazelis Paper of the Year Winner
Integrating Health Literacy and ESL: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Hispanic Immigrants
Francisco Soto Mas, Erika Mein, Brenda Fuentes, Barry Thatcher, and Héctor Balcázar
(Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 263-273, March 2013)
Adult Hispanic immigrants are at a greater risk of experiencing the negative outcomes related to low health literacy, as they confront cultural and language barriers to the complex and predominately monolingual English-based U.S. health system. One approach that has the potential for simultaneously addressing the health, literacy, and language needs of Hispanics is the combination of health literacy and English as a second language (ESL) instruction. The purpose of the project was to evaluate the feasibility of using ESL instruction as a medium for improving health literacy among Hispanic immigrants. Objectives included the development, implementation, and evaluation of an interdisciplinary health literacy/ESL curriculum that integrates theories of health literacy and health behavior research and practice, sociocultural theories of literacy and communication, and adult learning principles. This article describes the curriculum development process and provides preliminary qualitative data on learners’ experiences with the curriculum. Results indicate that the curriculum was attractive to participants and that they were highly satisfied with both the format and content. The curriculum described here represents one example of an audience-centered approach designed to meet the specific health and literacy needs of the Hispanic population on the U.S.–Mexico border. The combination of ESL and health literacy contributed to a perceived positive learning experience among participants. Interdisciplinary approaches to health literacy are recommended.