Improving Interactive Health Literacy Skills of Older Adults: Lessons Learned From Formative Organizational Research With Community Partners

Background: Meals on Wheels (MOW) organizations are ideal community partners for delivering social support relating to health information exchange for vulnerable and home-bound older adults.

Objectives: This article illustrates how formative organizational evaluation can be used to adapt health literacy interventions delivered by community partners.

Methods: Key informant interviews and ethnographic observations were conducted as part of a formative organizational evaluation of potential community partners.

Lessons Learned: The observed brevity of volunteer–client interaction led program planners to incorporate substantial emphasis on communicating with older adults into the health literacy coach training curriculum. Ethnographic observations made clear that program materials had to be portable and fit it in with the mobile nature of MOW delivery.

Conclusions: Formative organizational research can greatly increase the chance of successful implementation of public health interventions when those interventions will be implemented in partnerships with community-based organizations in diverse settings and with varying practices.