NIDA Launches Drug Abuse Website for Adults With Limited Literacy

A new, easy-to-read Web site on drug abuse designed for adults with a low reading literacy level (eighth grade or below) was launched last week by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The site, which provides plain language information on neuroscience, drug-abuse prevention, and treatment, is also a resource for adult literacy educators. It has a simple design with a large default text size, motion graphic videos, and other features that make it easy to read and use. “Drug abuse and addiction affects people of all reading levels, yet there are no Web sites with drug-abuse information created specifically for adults with limited literacy,” said NIDA Director Nora Volkow, M.D. “We hope this new site will inform a large segment of our population who may not have otherwise received potentially life-saving information.”

NIDA’s new easy-to-read site can be found at www.easyread.drugabuse.gov. See NIH’s Health Literacy Initiative for more information and additional resources on health literacy.

Literacy levels might also be one of the barriers to helping rural residents with substance abuse problems. Read more about it in Psychiatric News, here.

(Image: NIDA)