SUMMER 2009 VOLUME 43, NUMBER 2 199 NATALIE ROSS ADKINS AND CANAN CORUS Health Literacy for Improved Health Outcomes: Effective Capital in the Marketplace Improving consumers’ health literacy addresses many of the rising problems in healthcare. We empirically support a reconceptualization of health literacy as a social and cultural practice through which adults leverage a range of skills as well as social networks to meet their needs. Pierre Bourdieu’s “theory of practice” guides this reconceptualization and facilitates articulation of the array of strategies used in the complex healthcare marketplace. We focus on the low literate consumers’ alternative forms of capital and the providers’ recognition and support. The findings, from an emergent research design consisting of depth interviews with low literate consumers and healthcare providers, suggest a critical, reflective approach that enhances health literacy, empowers consumers to become partners in their own healthcare programs, and improves health outcomes. Low health literacy is one of the most pressing problems in pub- lic healthcare. Particularly, the lack of functional literacy in the health arena creates inefficient utilization of services, driving up healthcare costs (Kusuma et al. 2008). Consumers are overwhelmed by healthcare-related communications written well above their reading abilities (Davis et al. 1993). More than one-third of the U.S. population experience difficulties completing healthcare-related tasks such as utilizing charts, interpreting an over-the-counter (OTC) drug label, or following prescription instruc- tions (Sondik 2007). Low and marginal literacy is related to the misun- derstanding of prescription medication labels which, in turn, contributes to the more than $177.4 billion in annual costs attributed to medication noncompliance (Ernst and Grizzle 2001). In addition, low health liter- acy levels translate into limited access to health information, suboptimal preventive care, and ineffective decision making about treatments (Shore 2001). Low health literacy harms consumers, perpetuates the existence Natalie Ross Adkins is an assistant professor of Marketing, Drake University (Natalie.Adkins@ drake.edu). Canan Corus is an assistant professor of Marketing, the Peter J. Tobin College of Business, St. John’s University (ccorus@stjohns.edu). The authors are listed alphabetically but otherwise contributed equally to this project. The authors are especially grateful to Julie Ozanne and Bige Saatcioglu for their support and assistance over the course of this research and all their informants whose experiences inspired their research. The Journal of Consumer Affairs, Vol. 43, No. 2, 2009 ISSN 0022-0078 Copyright 2009 by The American Council on Consumer Interests