The Right Pick: Does a Self-assessment Measurement Tool Correctly Identify Health Care Consumers with Inadequate Health Literacy?

Author(s):  
Peter J. Schulz ◽  
Bernt Lindahl ◽  
Uwe Hartung ◽  
Ulf Naslund ◽  
Margareta Norberg ◽  
...  
1969 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 821-826
Author(s):  
UMAR ALEEM ◽  
NOOR KHAN ◽  
ZAKRIA ZAKAR ◽  
ROBEENA ZAKAR ◽  
SHAMAILA

OBJECTIVES: No practical and theoretical pattern for identifying health literacy and its utilizationpatterns exist. Health literacy is referring to the ability to read and perform numerical tasks'. Thisstudy’s objective was to recognize useful clinically questions that might be effective for theidentification of marginal and inadequate health literacy in adults.MATERIAL AND METHODS: In person interviews from a sample of n=332 middle age adults (28-40years) completed. A 5 point likert scale questionnaire include 16 literacy screening questionsadministered, followed by a validated health measure, the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy inAdults (STOHFLA). Grounded on the STOHFLA men were categorized as having inadequate,marginal, and adequate health literacy. Health care utilization pattern were identified in a separatequestionnaire through 10 close ended questions.RESULTS: Inadequate health literacy accounts for 42%, marginal health literacy 14% and adequatehealth literacy for 44% of the participants. 23% of the participants do not go to visit the hospital anddoctor in minor health related issues. 29% of the participants use over the counter drugs, and only 48%of the participants visit health facilities (Community Health Center, BHU, RHCs, THQ, DHQ) for theirhealth related issues.CONCLUSION:Health literacy and health care utilization are not so common in middle age adults inPakistan. The need of health literacy must be addressed in middle age adults, and it is possible when thehealth care facilities are fully utilized.KEYWORDS:Heallh Literacy, Healthcare Utilization, Community Health Center, Basic health Unit,Rural Health Center


Author(s):  
Saskia Maria De Gani ◽  
Daniela Nowak-Flück ◽  
Dunja Nicca ◽  
Dominique Vogt

Dealing with health information and taking care of one’s own health are key aspects of health literacy and a difficulty for nearly half of the population in Europe. Limited health literacy often results in poorer health outcomes. Health literacy is a fundamental health determinant, and its improvement provides great potential for addressing public health challenges. Health care organizations play an important role in improving population’s health literacy. Health literate health care organizations facilitate access, understanding and use of health information and decrease the demands and complexities of the health care system. Few efforts have been taken so far to promote organizational health literacy, especially in German-speaking countries. This project aimed at developing a self-assessment tool, which enables primary care organizations to assess and improve their level of health literacy. The self-assessment tool was developed and evaluated with general practitioners and community care organizations in Switzerland. Here the participative development process, outcomes and the three modules of the self-assessment tool are presented: (1) manual with detailed introduction and instruction, (2) checklist for self-assessment of organizational health literacy and (3) handbook with measures for improvement. The aim of this tool is that organizations are able to identify the need for action, plan and implement improvement measures.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 611-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmela Annarumma ◽  
Rocco Palumbo

Parker, Ratzen and Lurie (2003) pointed out that a silent epidemic is affecting the health status of the American population, namely poor health literacy. Actually, inadequate health literacy is the main cause of the patients’ inability to navigate the health care environment, paving the way for inappropriateness in the provision of care as well as for poor health outcomes. Moreover, it has been esteemed that a third of the European population is not able to properly understand, process and use health information (HLS-EU Consortium, 2012). The same issue has been identified in several Asian countries (see, for example, Nakayama et al., 2015; Pednekar, Gupta & Gupta, 2011). What is striking is that—until today—the attention has been focused on the individual determinants of low health literacy, while studies concerning the organizational health literacy—that is to say, the ability of health care organization to establish friendly and comfortable relationships with the patients—are uncommon (Weaver, Wray, Zellin, Gautam & Jupka, 2012). This article is aimed at exploring the way health care organizations deal with patients living with inadequate health literacy. Drawing on the prevailing literature (Brach et al., 2012; DeWalt et al., 2013; Matthews & Sewell, 2002; Murphy-Knoll, 2007; Stableford & Mettger, 2007) the main approaches to improve organizational health literacy are examined. Then, a distinction between formal and informal tools to address organizational health literacy is suggested and the effectiveness of both of them is compared. The findings of the research suggest that informal tools are more common than formal tools, even though the former have lower perceived effectiveness as compared with the latter. Health care organizations seem to be still far from effectively activating comprehensive organizational health literacy pathways. There is a desperate need for systemic efforts to enhance the awareness of organizational health literacy and to encourage processes of change towards health literate organizational environments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (suppl 2) ◽  
pp. 266-273
Author(s):  
Victor Roberto Santos Costa ◽  
Polyana D’arc Rezende Costa ◽  
Eduardo Yoshio Nakano ◽  
Daniel Apolinário ◽  
Alfredo Nicodemos Cruz Santana

ABSTRACT Objective: to assess the relationship between inadequate functional health literacy and inadequate blood pressure control in older people with hypertension in Primary Health Care. Method: a cross-sectional study with sample calculated at 392. SAHLPA-18 tool was used for functional health literacy; blood pressure was measured; sociodemographic and clinical data were collected. Hierarchical logistic regression was used. Results: (high) inadequate blood pressure and (low) functional inadequate health literacy were present in 41.6% and 54.6% of the people, respectively. Factors associated with inadequate blood pressure were: inadequate functional health literacy, black-brown skin color, overweight-obesity, hypertension diagnosis time, non-adherence to exercise/diet, drug treatment. Schooling had no association with inadequate blood pressure Conclusion: hypertensive elderly people with inadequate health literacy were more likely to have inadequate blood pressure. Thus, health professionals need to value functional health literacy as a possible component to control blood pressure.


2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 1183-1203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocco Palumbo ◽  
Carmela Annarumma ◽  
Paola Adinolfi ◽  
Marco Musella

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the changing patterns of users’ behavior in the health care service system. Although patient engagement and health services’ co-production are understood as essential ingredients in the recipe for sustainable health systems, some determinants to patient involvement are still widely neglected by both policy makers and health care professionals. Among others, inadequate health literacy performs as a significant barrier to patient empowerment. Design/methodology/approach A survey aimed at objectively measuring health literacy-related skills was administered to a random sample of 600 Italian patients. The Italian version of the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) was used to assess the ability of the respondents to deal with written health information. Moreover, the respondents were asked to self-report their ability to navigate the health system. It was presumed that inadequate health literacy as measured by the NVS is related with impaired self-reported functional, interactive, and critical health-related competencies, paving the way for the inability and the unwillingness of patients to be involved in the health care provision. Findings About half of the sample showed inadequate health literacy. However, poor NVS scores were only slightly associated with limited self-reported functional, interactive, and critical health-related competencies. In general, patients with inadequate health-related skills were not likely to be engaged in the provision of health services. Elderly, people suffering from financial deprivation and less educated individuals were found to be at special risk of living with limited health literacy. Practical implications Limited health literacy is a common and relevant issue among people dealing with the health care service system. The impaired ability to collect, process, and use health information produces barriers to patient engagement and prevents the evolution of patients’ behavior toward health care co-production. Originality/value Health literacy is a widely overlooked issue in the Italian national health system. This paper contributes in shedding light on the determinants and effects of health literacy of Italian hospital patients. Besides, some insights on the validity of the methodological tools typically used to assess health-related skills are provided.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-44
Author(s):  
Nadia Hussain ◽  
Amira S. A. Said ◽  
Zainab Khan

Health literacy is how well the patients are able to attain, deal with, and understand basic health information. This is particularly important when it comes to comprehending prescribed medication instructions. To improve the communication strategies for health-care professionals during patient counseling, our study aimed to assess the influence of health literacy and medication adherence in older patients. The objectives of the study were to evaluate associations that occur between the level of health literacy and medication adherence. This study used a convenience sampling method of females (older than 60 years) attending the diabetic clinic in two hospital settings ( N = 524). All study participants filled three validated questionnaires: these were the Literacy Assessment for Diabetes, the Diabetes Numeracy Test, and a modified Brief Adherence Rating Scale. To assess the spectrum of health literacy differences, we used χ2 analysis and linear regression analysis. Individuals with adequate health literacy were more likely to remember to take their medications compared with those with inadequate health literacy, χ2(4) = 11.6, p = .04. Adequate literacy level study participants were more likely to not change the dose of their medications without medical advice (12.3%) compared with those individuals with inadequate health literacy (2.8%), χ2(4) = 11.13, p = .03. The results in our study suggest that health-care professionals should focus on appropriate communication attuned to the assessment of health literacy levels particularly in older female patients when discussing medication instructions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
J Pelikan ◽  
P Nowak

Abstract Background The European Health Literacy Survey (HLS-EU) demonstrated that in many European countries a considerable proportion of the population has limited health literacy (HL), that there is a social gradient for HL and that HL is associated with use of health services. Furthermore research mostly from the US also showed that HL of patients has detrimental effects not only on use but also on outcomes of health care. Therefore in the US the concept of the Health Literate Health Care Organization (HLHCO) has been developed by IOM to make health services more sensitive to the needs of patients with limited HL. Methods Based on the IOM concept, a more comprehensive model of a Health Literate Health Care Organization fulfilling criteria of WHÓs health promoting setting approach has been developed. A set of standards and indicators according to quality management criteria (ISQUA) to measure the organizational HL of a hospital has been constructed, tested and validated in 9 different kinds of hospitals by a team in Vienna. This model and measurement tool has been translated to English and other languages and been used and validated also in other countries (Belgium, Italy, Taiwan). By an international working group of the international Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services network an international version of the model and tool has been developed and will be tested in different countries. Results The model and self-assessment tool has been demonstrated to be acceptable, feasibly, valid and useful to start self-assessment and improvement of organizational HL in different types of hospitals and health care systems. Conclusions Organizational HL of health services matters for use and quality of health care of patients. Measuring organizational HL of hospitals by a validated instrument can support development of a more health literate health care organization and by that improve quality of care and tackle the health gap. Key messages Health literacy matter for health care and can be measured and improved on a personal and on an organizations or systems level to improve quality of care and tackle the health gap. A model and self-assessment instrument to measure organizational health literacy of hospitals has been developed and validated to support hospitals to improve their organizational health literacy.


SOEPRA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 254
Author(s):  
Christina Nur Widayati ◽  
Endang Wahyati Yustina ◽  
Hadi Sulistyanto

Patient Safety was the right of a patient who was receiving health care. A nurse was one of the health professionals in a hospital having a very important role in realizing Patient Safety. In realizing Patient Safety Panti Rahayu Yakkum Hospital of Purwodadi had involved the role of the nurses. In carrying out their role the nurses could support the protection of the patient’s rights. The nurses performed health care by conducting six Patient Safety goals that were based on professional standards, service standards and codes of conduct so that the Patient Safety would be realized.This research applied a socio-legal approach to having analytical-descriptive specifications. The data used were primary and secondary those were gathered by field and literature studies. The field study was conducted by having interviews to, among others, the Director of Panti Rahayu Yakkum Hospital of Purwodadi, Head of Room and Chairman of Patient Safety Committee, nurses and patients. The data were then qualitatively analyzed.The arrangement of nurses’ role in implementing Patient Safety and the patient’s rights protection was based on the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia of 1945, Health Act, Hospital Act, Labor Act, and Nursing Act. These bases made the hospital obliged to implement Patient Safety. The regulations leading the hospital to provide Patient Safety were Health Minister’s Regulation Nr. 11 of 2017 on Patient Safety, Statute of Panti Rahayu Yakkum Hospital of Purwodadi (Hospital ByLaws), Internal Nursing Staff ByLaws. In implementing Patient Safety Panti Rahayu Yakkum Hospital of Purwodadi had established a committee of Patient Safety team consisting of the nurses that would implement six targets of Patient Safety. Actually, the Patient Safety implementation had been accomplished but it had not been optimally done because of several factors, namely juridical, social and technical factors. The supporting factors in influencing the implementation were, among others, the establishment of the Patient Safety team that had been well socialized whereas the inhibiting factors were limitedness of time and funds to train the nurses besides the operational procedure standard (OPS) that was still less understood. Lack of learning motivation among the nurses also appeared as an inhibiting factor in understanding Patient Safety implementation.


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