scholarly journals Behavioural barriers to COVID-19 testing in Australia: Two national surveys to identify barriers and estimate prevalence by health literacy level

Author(s):  
Carissa Bonner ◽  
Carys Batcup ◽  
Julie Ayre ◽  
Kristen Pickles ◽  
Erin Cvejic ◽  
...  

Background: COVID-19 testing and contact tracing has been crucial in Australia's prevention strategy. However, testing for COVID-19 is far from optimal, and behavioural barriers are unknown. Study 1 aimed to identify the range of barriers to testing. Study 2 aimed to estimate prevalence in a nationally relevant sample to target interventions. Methods: Study 1: National longitudinal COVID-19 survey from April-November 2020. Testing barriers were included in the June survey (n=1369). Open responses were coded using the COM-B framework (capability-opportunity-motivation). Study 2: Barriers from Study 1 were presented to a new nationally representative sample in November to estimate prevalence (n=2869). Barrier prevalence was analysed by health literacy level using Chi square tests. Results: Study 1: 49% strongly agreed to get tested for symptoms, and 69% would self-isolate. Concern about pain was the top barrier from a provided list (11%), but 32 additional barriers were identified from open responses and coded to the COM-B framework. Study 2: The most prevalent barriers were motivation issues (e.g. don't believe symptoms are COVID-19: 28%, few local cases: 18%). Capability issues were also common (e.g. not sure symptoms are bad enough: 19%, not sure whether symptoms need testing: 15%). Many barriers were more prevalent amongst people with low compared to high health literacy, including motivation (preference to self isolate: 21% vs 12%, pain: 15% vs 9%) and capability (not sure symptom needs testing: 12% vs 8%, not sure how to test:11% vs 4%). Conclusion: Even in a health system with free and widespread access to COVID-19 testing, motivation and capability barriers were prevalent issues, particularly for people with lower health literacy. This study highlights the important of diagnosing behaviour barriers to target public health interventions for COVID-19 and future pandemics.

Author(s):  
Norrafizah Jaafar ◽  
Komathi Perialathan ◽  
Manimaran Krishnan ◽  
Nurashma Juatan ◽  
Masitah Ahmad ◽  
...  

Health literacy is an indicator of a society’s ability to make better health judgements for themselves and the people around them. This study investigated the prevalence of health literacy among Malaysian adults and provided an overall picture of the society’s current health literacy status, which has not been previously assessed. The study also highlighted socio-demographic markers of communities with limited health literacy that may warrant future intervention. A population-based self-administered survey using the Health Literacy Survey Malaysian Questionnaire18 (HLS-M-Q18) instrument was conducted as part of the National Health Morbidity Survey 2019 in Malaysia. The nationwide survey utilized a two-staged stratified random sampling method. A sample of 9478 individuals aged 18 and above, drawn from the living quarter list, participated in the study. The health literacy score was divided into three levels; limited, sufficient, and excellent. Findings showed a majority of the Malaysian population had a sufficient health literacy level in all three domains—healthcare, diseases prevention and health promotion (49.1%, 44.2%, and 47.5%, respectively)—albeit leaning towards the lower end of the category with an average score of 35.5. The limited health literacy groups were prevalent among respondents with older age (68%), lower education level (64.8%), and lower household income (49.5%). The overall health literacy status for Malaysia was categorized at a lower sufficiency level. Future health literacy improvements should focus on communities with a limited health literacy level to improve the overall score.


2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 606-614
Author(s):  
Seth C. Kalichman ◽  
Moira O. Kalichman ◽  
Ellen Banas ◽  
Marnie Hill ◽  
Harold Katner

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Desalew Tilahun ◽  
Abebe Abera ◽  
Gugsa Nemera

Abstract Background Health literacy plays a prominent role in empowering individuals for prevention as well as management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). However, there is paucity of information on the health literacy of patients with non-communicable diseases in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess communicative health literacy and associated factors in patients with NCDs on follow-up at Jimma Medical Center (JMC), Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted from 4 May 2020 to 4 July 2020 with 408 randomly selected adult patients, attending outpatient department of JMC in Ethiopia. The final sample size was obtained by using single population proportion formula. All patients with NCDs who were on follow-up at chronic illness clinic, JMC, were used as a source population. All eligible patients with NCDs who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included in this study. A simple random sampling technique was used to recruit study participants. Data were collected through structured interviewer administered questionnaires on the six of nine health literacy domains using Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) containing 30 items, socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics, disease-related factors, and health information sources. Multivariable logistic regression was executed to determine the associations. Result Descriptive analysis shows more than half of the respondents in four of the six health literacy domains had high communicative health literacy level (CHLL). The proportion of people with high CHLL across each of the domains was as follows: health care provider support (56.1%), social support for health (53.7%), active engagement with a healthcare provider (56.1%), and navigating healthcare system (53.4%). We found educational status was significantly associated with five of six health literacy domains whereas number of sources was associated with four of six health literacy domains. Conclusion The overall findings of the current study indicate that health literacy levels vary according to socio-demographic and disease characteristics of patients. Thus, healthcare professionals should assess patients’ health literacy level and tailor information and support to the health literacy skills and personal context of their patients.


2016 ◽  
Vol 150 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Régis Vaillancourt ◽  
Yen Truong ◽  
Shazya Karmali ◽  
Amanda Kraft ◽  
Selina Manji ◽  
...  

Background: Medications that taste unpleasant can be a struggle to administer to children, most often resulting in low adherence rates. Pictograms can be useful tools to improve adherence by conveying information to patients in a way that they will understand. Methods: One-on-one structured interviews were conducted with parents/guardians and with children between the ages of 9 and 17 years at a pediatric hospital. The questionnaire evaluated the comprehension of 12 pictogram sets that described how to mask the taste of medications for children. Pictograms understood by >85% of participants were considered validated. Short-term recall was assessed by asking participants to recall the meaning of each pictogram set. Results: There were 51 participants in the study—26 (51%) were children aged 9 to 17 years and 25 (49%) were parents or guardians. Most children (54%) had health literacy levels of grade 10 or higher. Most parents and guardians (92%) had at least a high school health literacy level. Six of the 12 pictogram sets (50%) were validated. Eleven of 12 pictogram sets (92%) had a median translucency score greater than 5. All 12 pictogram sets (100%) were correctly identified at short-term recall and were therefore validated. Conclusion: The addition of validated illustrations to pharmaceutical labels can be useful to instruct on how to mask the taste of medication in certain populations. Further studies are needed to assess the clinical impact of providing illustrated information to populations with low health literacy.


2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-26.e1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Porter ◽  
Yvonnes Chen ◽  
Paul Estabrooks ◽  
Lauren Noel ◽  
Angela Bailey ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyndsay A Nelson ◽  
Shelagh A Mulvaney ◽  
Tebeb Gebretsadik ◽  
Yun-Xian Ho ◽  
Kevin B Johnson ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective Mobile health (mHealth) interventions may improve diabetes outcomes, but require engagement. Little is known about what factors impede engagement, so the authors examined the relationship between patient factors and engagement in an mHealth medication adherence promotion intervention for low-income adults with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Materials and Methods Eighty patients with T2DM participated in a 3-month mHealth intervention called MEssaging for Diabetes that leveraged a mobile communications platform. Participants received daily text messages addressing and assessing medication adherence, and weekly interactive automated calls with adherence feedback and questions for problem solving. Longitudinal repeated measures analyses assessed the relationship between participants’ baseline characteristics and the probability of engaging with texts and calls. Results On average, participants responded to 84.0% of texts and participated in 57.1% of calls. Compared to Whites, non-Whites had a 63% decreased relative odds (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.37, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.19-0.73) of participating in calls. In addition, lower health literacy was associated with a decreased odds of participating in calls (AOR = 0.67, 95% CI, 0.46-0.99, P = .04), whereas older age ( Pnonlinear = .01) and more depressive symptoms (AOR = 0.62, 95% CI, 0.38-1.02, P = .059) trended toward a decreased odds of responding to texts. Conclusions Racial/ethnic minorities, older adults, and persons with lower health literacy or more depressive symptoms appeared to be the least engaged in a mHealth intervention. To facilitate equitable intervention impact, future research should identify and address factors interfering with mHealth engagement.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (s1) ◽  
pp. 137-137
Author(s):  
Dae Hyun Kim ◽  
Larry Hearld ◽  
William Opoku-Aygeman

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between gastro-intestinal (GI) patients’ health literacy levels and patients’ health outcomes (length of stay, readmission, complication). METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: A research team at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) ‘s Gastro-Intestinal (GI) surgical department collected inpatient GI patients’ health literacy data by distributing the Brief Health Literacy Screen (BRIEF) survey to patients are about to be discharged. Patients’ health outcomes data were gathered through Business Objects, an online platform that allows physicians and researchers to access and gather patients’ medical information with an IRB approval. After accounting for necessary control variables, logistic regression and multiple linear regression models will be run to assess whether there is a significant relationship between patients’ health literacy levels and patients’ health outcomes. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Three specific hypotheses are proposed in this study. H1: GI patients’ health literacy levels will be negatively associated with their lengths of stay H2: GI patients’ health literacy levels will be negatively associated with their readmission status to the hospital H3: GI patients’ health literacy levels will be negatively associated with their complication status to the hospital DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: This study allows us to further our understanding of patients’ health literacy level and its’ relationship with important health outcomes. By looking at a variety of diverse health outcomes, the impact of a patients’ health literacy level on that patients’ health outcomes will be observed more clearly.


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