Twenty health and literacy professionals (predominantly National Work Group on Cancer and Literacy members) were interviewed by telephone regarding communicating with low-literate audiences. Most respondents reported using census data, state statistics, and the Wide Range Achievement Test to help them target and identify low-literate individuals. After citing a number of reasons why it is difficult to recruit low-literate individuals for research, most respondents stated that recruiting was more successful if the research project was linked to individuals' personal goals and if research- and medical/social service-related visits were paired. When asked to evaluate low literacy health communication strategies and materials, most respondents favored formative research and health education strategies that were interactive and had limited objectives. Most respondents favored including health messages in literacy curricula and reported doing so. There was general agreement that health professions need to be aware that many patients are low literate and that they should keep their verbal and written communications simple and clear. The major challenge mentioned in relation to collaborating on health and literacy projects was building a consensus between literacy organizations and health organizations with different agendas and territorial issues. (Appended are the prenotification letter and questionnaire.) (MN)