Review of Composing Health Literacies Edited by Michael Madson

Abstract

Editor Michael Madson once again compiles an excellent collection of scholars that speak to theoretical and pragmatic ways of teaching students about health literacies and writing practices. Similar to his previous collection Teaching Writing in the Health Professions: Perspectives, Problems, and Practices (reviewed in Programmatic Perspectives’ fall 2022 issue), this volume also answers the call for more scholarship on writing in the health professions by explicitly connecting health literacy with undergraduate writing instruction. In his introduction, Madson frames this book as an answer to the global health literacy crisis—a crisis of adults lacking basic knowledge about their health that leads to poor decision-making, possibly leading to hospitalization, rehospitalization, or premature death (p. 1). This well-defined exigency leads Madson to compile this book that views undergraduate writing instruction as one solution to the health literacy crisis.