The Meaning and the Measure of Health Literacy
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
Computer-assisted testing, which selects items from a bank of possible items according to a baseline-predicted reading ability and responses to previous questions, should allow more accurate measurement of indiidual capacity without increasing the time required to complete testing.Abstract:
Health literacy is a complicated construct that depends on individual capacity to communicate and the demands posed by society and the health care system. More comprehensive tests are needed to understand the gap between capacities and current demands to help guide efforts to educate children and adults about health issues and to develop health-related information that more of the general public can understand. For research, new instruments are needed that will measure individuals reading fluency more precisely without posing an undue response burden. Computer-assisted testing, which selects items from a bank of possible items according to a baseline-predicted reading ability and responses to previous questions, should allow more accurate measurement of indiidual capacity without increasing the time required to complete testing. It remains unclear whether it is possible to develop an accurate, practical “screening” test to identify individuals with limited health literacy. Even if this goal is achieved, it remains unclear whether it is better to screen patients or to adopt “universal precautions” to avoid miscommunication by using plain language in all oral and written communication and confirming understanding with all patients by having them repeat back their understanding of their diagnosis and treatment plan. George Bernard Shaw said, “The main problem with communication is the assumption that it has occurred.” This is a universal truth that transcends reading ability.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
The health literate health care organization 10 item questionnaire (HLHO-10): development and validation
Christoph Kowalski,Shoou Yih D. Lee,Anna Schmidt,Simone Wesselmann,Markus Wirtz,Holger Pfaff,Nicole Ernstmann +6 more
TL;DR: The HLHO-10 instrument provides a useful tool to assess the degree to which health care organizations help patients to navigate, understand, and use information and services and has satisfactory reliability and validity.
Journal ArticleDOI
Growing Right Onto Wellness (GROW): A Family-Centered, Community-Based Obesity Prevention Randomized Controlled Trial for Preschool Child-Parent Pairs
TL;DR: By conducting this trial in public community centers, and by implementing a family-centered approach to sustainable healthy childhood growth, this work aims to develop an exportable community-based intervention to address the expanding public health crisis of pediatric obesity.
Journal ArticleDOI
Lifelong educational practices and resources in enabling health literacy among older adults
TL;DR: The formal education, lifelong and lifewide learning enabling factors exhibited the most robust associations with health literacy.
Journal ArticleDOI
Examining the impacts of health literacy on healthcare costs. An evidence synthesis.
TL;DR: The inadequate ability of patients to understand health information and to navigate the healthcare system was found to be an important predictor of inappropriateness in the access to health care and the relationship between health literacy and healthcare costs was focused on.
Journal ArticleDOI
Differential effects of health knowledge and health empowerment over patients' self-management and health outcomes: a cross-sectional evaluation.
TL;DR: Results from this study suggest that health interventions targeted to chronic patients should focus simultaneously on knowledge and empowerment, rather than favoring one of these individual constructs.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
“Mini-mental state”: A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician
Marshal F. Folstein,Marshal F. Folstein,Susan E B Folstein,Susan E B Folstein,Paul R. McHugh,Paul R. McHugh +5 more
TL;DR: A simplified, scored form of the cognitive mental status examination, the “Mini-Mental State” (MMS) which includes eleven questions, requires only 5-10 min to administer, and is therefore practical to use serially and routinely.
A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician
TL;DR: The Mini-Mental State (MMS) as mentioned in this paper is a simplified version of the standard WAIS with eleven questions and requires only 5-10 min to administer, and is therefore practical to use serially and routinely.
BookDOI
Health literacy : a prescription to end confusion
TL;DR: Health Literacy: Prescription to End Confusion examines the body of knowledge that applies to the field of health literacy, and recommends actions to promote a health literate society.
Journal ArticleDOI
Quick assessment of literacy in primary care: the newest vital sign.
Barry D. Weiss,Mary Z. Mays,William Martz,Kelley Merriam Castro,Darren A. DeWalt,Michael Pignone,Joy Mockbee,Frank A. Hale +7 more
TL;DR: NVS, the Newest Vital Sign, is suitable for use as a quick screening test for limited literacy in primary health care settings and correlates with the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults.
Journal ArticleDOI
The test of functional health literacy in adults: a new instrument for measuring patients' literacy skills.
TL;DR: The Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) as mentioned in this paper was developed using actual hospital materials and consists of a 50-item reading comprehension and 17-item numerical ability test.