COMM 408 Final Reflection

The first lesson that stood out to me this semester was in module 3 regarding health literacy.  I never truly realized before this class how large of an issue that financial literacy is. Knowing that people out there have so many barriers towards receiving proper healthcare tugged at my heart. I especially felt sympathy towards the concept of reading fluency being an issue, as it had never truly dawned on me how people with learning disabilities would struggle in this area greatly.

     The second lesson that stood out to me this semester was in module 7 regarding patient centered care. The main aspect of this lesson that stuck with me was the disparities in physicians’ communication styles between high participation patients and low participation patients. I discovered that I am a high participation patient, and so I never considered what it would be like to have a doctor that seemed disengaged in the conversation. It truly opened my eyes to the benefits of being active when receiving health information.

     The third lesson that stood out to me this semester was in module 10 regarding end of life issues. I was very intrigued by the Problematic Integration Theory. The fact that what we want from death is often different than what happens was a very direct, but eye opening fact to learn. I discussed having personal experience with this in a previous assignment, as my late grandmother struggled with a crippling fear of death. This whole module overall just hit close to home.

     As far as moving forward in my professional career, all of these lessons are important. However, I think that health literacy is something that will stay on my mind the most. I hope to work with special needs children one day, ideally within the public school system, and so health literacy will likely be a prominent issue depending on each child’s situation. If I can, I would love to provide not only clarity for the people in these situations, but comfort as well knowing that someone does care about their ability to receive proper health communication.