Literacy for health: an interdisciplinary model.

Traditionally, many literacy and health education programs have had difficulty in significantly affecting vulnerable priority populations. The materials used were largely generalized for one language, one level of literacy, and one culture. A multidiscipline review of literature discusses the relationship between literacy, health, and culture and provides rationale for the interdisciplinary literacy for health model. The model's synthesis of anthropology, linguistics, literacy, nursing, and community partnership guides development of culturally and linguistically appropriate materials for successful adoption and diffusion within a priority population. In Nepal, the model is being used in the Mugom first-language literacy project among a group of remote Tibetan Buddhist peoples.