Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Literacy”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources
PubMed2006

Low literacy: a hidden problem in family planning clinics.

OBJECTIVES: Low literacy is highly prevalent among UK adults. This study assessed functional health literacy among family planning clinic clients and whether this was associated with sexual health knowledge and behaviours. It also assessed the readability of patient leaflets. METHODS: 505 female family planning clinic attendees aged 16-35 years were interviewed about their sexual behaviour and knowledge. Their reading age was assessed using a validated test (REALM). The readability of leaflets on contraception supplied to clinic users was measured. RESULTS: All respondents had a reading age of 12 years and above, 221 (43.8%) between 12 and 14 years and 284 (56.2%) greater than 14 years. Those in the lower literacy group were significantly more likely to have been aged under 16 years at time of first sexual intercourse, and significantly less likely to know the most fertile time of the menstrual cycle, to identify sexually transmitted infections and to know that sexual infections can be transmitted through oral and anal sex. The reading age of information leaflets in the clinics ranged from 11 to 17 years. Thus, clients with a reading level of 12-14 years would have difficulty in understanding some of the leaflets. CONCLUSIONS: Functional health literacy is related to sexual behaviour and knowledge. Written information should be prepared with this in mind and other routes of communication considered.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Literacy and perceived barriers to medication taking among homeless mothers and their children.

PURPOSE: The relation of medical literacy to women-reported barriers to taking medication themselves or giving medication to their children was studied. METHODS: Women in 18 homeless shelters in four counties in central North Carolina were recruited. Head-of-household homeless mothers with psychiatric or substance-abuse disorders and dependent children were eligible to participate. Trained interviewers administered a site-specific questionnaire on medication use. RESULTS: One hundred sixty-four homeless women participated. Forty-two percent of the women were currently taking a medication. Forty-six percent of the women stated that there was a barrier to taking their medications as prescribed. Medical literacy was not significantly related to whether women felt there were barriers to taking a medication. Seventy-five percent of the women reported having one or more children living with them. Thirty-seven percent reported having a child with asthma live with them, and 12% reported having a child with attention-deficit disorder. Forty percent reported a barrier to giving their child a needed medication. Taste was the most commonly reported barrier. Women with lower medical literacy and younger women were significantly more likely to report a barrier to giving their children a needed medication. Over 80% of women listed pharmacists as their first or second choice for receiving drug information orally. CONCLUSION: Race and perceived barriers to medication use affected the medication-taking behavior of homeless women, while their age and literacy level affected the reporting rates of the barriers to medication use for their children. Homeless women preferred receiving both written and oral drug information from a physician or a pharmacist.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Misunderstanding of prescription drug warning labels among patients with low literacy.

PURPOSE: The common causes for misunderstanding prescription drug warning labels (PWLs) among adults with low literacy were studied. METHODS: A total of 74 patients reading at or below the sixth-grade level and receiving care at the primary care clinic at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport were recruited to participate in structured interviews. Patients were asked to interpret and comment on eight commonly used warning labels found on prescription medications. Correct interpretation was determined by expert panel review of patients' verbatim responses. Qualitative methods were employed to code responses and generate themes regarding the misunderstanding of these PWLs. RESULTS: Among this sample of patients with low literacy skills, rates of correct interpretation for the eight warning labels ranged from 0% to 78.7%. With the exception of the most basic label, less than half of all patients were able to provide adequate interpretations of the warning label messages. Five themes were derived to describe the common causes for misunderstanding the labels: single-step versus multiple-step instructions, reading difficulty of text, use of icons, use of color, and message clarity. Labels were at greater risk for being misunderstood if they included multiple instructions, had a greater reading difficulty, included unfamiliar terms, or used confusing icons that were discordant with text messages. Participants also frequently imposed an incorrect meaning on label colors, which led to further confusion. CONCLUSION: Patients with low literacy skills demonstrated a lower rate of correct interpretation of the eight most commonly used PWLs than did those with higher literacy skills. Multiple-step instructions, reading difficulty of text, the use of icons, the use of color, and message clarity were the common causes of label misinterpretation.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Low literacy levels in adults: implications for patient education.

BACKGROUND: Patients are being discharged with the need for more complex care in the home. Written information frequently is used in health education. Patients and caregivers must be able to read and understand this information. METHOD: A comprehensive literature review of articles on literacy and health education materials was performed. RESULTS: The literature review revealed that low literacy is more prevalent in the United States than is generally recognized. Health education materials often require a reading level higher than the reading level of most patients. There are a number of tools available for assessing reading levels. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate there are implications for nursing practice, education, and research. There is a need for nurses to be aware of the prevalence of low literacy. They need to know how to accurately assess reading ability and develop material that is at the appropriate level for patients and caregivers. There is a need for research to investigate possible relationships between health status and low literacy and to examine the effects of remedial reading programs on health practices.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Recognizing and overcoming inadequate health literacy, a barrier to care.

Health literacy-the ability to understand and act on health information-is essential for high-quality care. Many people, especially the elderly, who bear the greatest burden of disease, have inadequate health literacy. This adversely affects their quality of care, and places increased cost burdens on society. Learning to recognize when a patient may have low literacy skills and understanding the common ways in which these people misinterpret medical information can help physicians develop strategies to improve patients' health literacy.

Communication↗
PubMed2006

Improving the implementation of an early literacy program by child health nurses through addressing local training and cultural needs.

This study evaluates the implementation of an early literacy program by child health nurses (CHNs) in Geraldton and the Midwest regions of Western Australia. Children's early preschool exposure to reading is an important step in developing literacy skills in later schooling. The program aims to improve early literacy development by supplying parents with an appropriate book and information on reading to children at the child's seven-to-nine months of age health check. This study highlights the potential role of CHNs in encouraging early literacy in regional communities. However, a barrier to the successful implementation of the program was found to be its dependence on attendance at a predetermined health check. This was especially so for the Aboriginal population, which had a significantly lower attendance rate. Dependence on personal and professional experience amongst CHNs also resulted in sub-optimal implementation of the program. Recommendations to broaden the scope of the intervention, in timing and location, and to develop appropriate training for CHNs are discussed. It is shown that the implementation of such evidence-based programs must address local community and service provider issues to reach their full potential.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Reach Out and Read: a pediatric clinic-based approach to early literacy promotion.

Approximately 90 million adults in the United States read at a level that limits their ability to function as full members of society or limits their ability to meet their basic needs. Reading success as an adult is related to early literacy experiences. Reading aloud by parents is the single most critical factor in a child's reading success later in life. Children in households where there is little exposure to reading are at risk for reading failure even before entering school. As primary health care providers, pediatric nurse practitioners are in a unique position to affect and encourage parental behaviors that foster early literacy development in children. Literacy should become incorporated as an integral component of health promotion for children. Reach Out and Read is a successful literacy program in the United States that can be easily adopted by pediatric nurse practitioners in primary care settings.

Child↗
PubMed2002

Intimate culture of families in the early socialization of literacy.

The intimate family culture for early literacy socialization was documented for a socioculturally heterogeneous sample of 66 children enrolled in pre-kindergarten through third grade at public elementary schools in a large U.S. city. Parents were interviewed about 3 types of indexes of their family's intimate culture: the child's engagement in various literacy-related activities at home, the parents' orientation towards the significance of literacy for early child development, and the family's routines of dinnertime, reading aloud, and doing homework for school. Basic reading competencies were assessed with the Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery--Tests of Achievement, Revised (1989). Multiple regression analysis found that a significant proportion of variance in the children's literacy development was predicted by each of the quantitative indexes of intimate family culture, leaving little or no additional variance that was due to family income or ethnicity.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Literacy in primary care populations: is it a problem?

BACKGROUND: Almost half of Canadians experience difficulty using print media, according to the 1994 International Adult Literacy Survey. Our objectives were to estimate the prevalence of low-literacy patients in our practice, to determine whether reading grade level is associated with self-perceived health status in primary care, and to evaluate the reading difficulty of commonly used patient education pamphlets. METHODS: We surveyed a random sample of 229 patients aged 18 to 85 years presenting for scheduled and walk-in care. Main outcome measures were reading ability as estimated by word decoding skill with the validated Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) and self-perceived health status using COOP/WONCA functional health measures. We assessed the reading difficulty of 120 commonly used patient education pamphlets using the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) formula. RESULTS: The prevalence of low-literate patients was 9%. Poor reading ability in English was most likely among patients under 45 years of age not having completed high school, and among those whose maternal language was neither English nor French (immigrants). REALM scores and self-perceived health were weakly correlated but not significant statistically. The mean reading grade level of pamphlets was grade 11.5 (SD: 1.5). Seventy-eight percent of pamphlets required at least a high school reading level. CONCLUSION: Literacy levels were higher than expected in our patient population; this finding may be due to the rapid assessment tool used, which may have underestimated the difficulty of using print media. Clearly, the vast majority of commonly used patient education materials would not meet the needs of low-literate patients, who may be more likely to experience poorer health. Providers need to be sensitive to the reading limitations of patients and patient education materials should be written at a lower reading level.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Measuring statistical literacy.

This study considers the measurement of Statistical Literacy understanding that goes beyond the basic chance and data skills and knowledge in the mathematics curriculum. This understanding requires application of mathematical skills in a range of contextual situations and draws on aspects of statistics, such as variation and inference, which may not be explicit in the school curriculum. The study reports the outcomes from tests of Statistical Literacy given to 673 students from Grades 5 to 10. It confirms the nature and structure of a previously identified construct of Statistical Literacy and proposes three subgroups of items that address aspects of Statistical Literacy that might usefully be measured by classroom teachers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Health literacy: the gap between physicians and patients.

Health literacy is basic reading and numerical skills that allow a person to function in the health care environment. Even though most adults read at an eighth-grade level, and 20 percent of the population reads at or below a fifth-grade level, most health care materials are written at a 10th-grade level. Older patients are particularly affected because their reading and comprehension abilities are influenced by their cognition and their vision and hearing status. Inadequate health literacy can result in difficulty accessing health care, following instructions from a physician, and taking medication properly. Patients with inadequate health literacy are more likely to be hospitalized than patients with adequate skills. Patients understand medical information better when spoken to slowly, simple words are used, and a restricted amount of information is presented. For optimal comprehension and compliance, patient education material should be written at a sixth-grade or lower reading level, preferably including pictures and illustrations. All patients prefer reading medical information written in dear and concise language. Physicians should be alert to this problem because most patients are unwilling to admit that they have literacy problems.

Communication Barriers↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Health literacy: an introduction to the literature.

Adult literacy is inextricably linked with adults' understanding of educational and informational materials concerning their health. Approximately 90 million American adults are functionally illiterate or have only marginal reading skills. This article describe the impact of poor literacy skills on patient health and the scope of the challenges to health literacy. The author also describes simple steps which dentists can undertake to identify patients with poor literacy skills and methods which may help improve educational programs for those patients.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Critical analysis on best practices in health literacy.

From a holistic perspective, health literacy is a requirement for the well-being of entire populations. It moves beyond the focus on individuals to consider the role of organizations and systems. This perspective offers a context for discussing best practices in health literacy, and implications for research and policy development. This paper offers an overview of the best practices that were presented at the Second Canadian Conference on Literacy and Health. It discusses clear writing in some detail because it was emphasized at the conference. It also considers practices that were addressed less emphatically, such as oral communication between patients and health care professionals, training for health care professionals, non-written means of communication (such as video), and building capacity through action-research. The paper critiques some practices. It also notes the lack of research on the links between health literacy and oral understanding, on the impact of verbal and non-written interventions, and on the effectiveness of these practices on the health outcomes of the population. It briefly discusses policy issues and suggests some future directions.

Benchmarking↗
PubMed2006

SPEAK. A mnemonic tool for addressing health literacy concerns in geriatric clinical encounters.

Healthcare providers can enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the care they provide by recognizing their patients' health literacy. Health literacy is defined as "the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions." It is a measure of the clarity of the communication between the healthcare system and the patient. The consequences that can occur when the patients' health literacy is not addressed include: poorer health status, high rates of health services use, compromised patient safety, and increased health care costs. The mnemonic SPEAK (Speech, Perception, Education, Access, and Knowledge) provides a simple framework that healthcare providers can use to enhance their own awareness of health literacy components during patient care. Case examples show how the mnemonic can be used in everyday practice.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Factors associated with computer literacy among nurses.

Nowadays, many hospitals have adopted information technology (IT) to help nurses in their practice; therefore, computers have become critical instruments for nurses. Many researchers have studied what information literacy or computer competencies a nurse should possess, but less research has focused on the types of factors associated with computer literacy. The purpose of this study was to discover which variables influence the computer literacy of nurses. The questionnaire was the instrument for data collection. The respondents were 180 nurses in Taiwan. The results of this study revealed that computer experience of nurses and personal innovation in IT were both factors associated with computer literacy and computer anxiety. The findings could assist nursing managers to screen computer-literate nurses and course designers in nursing school or hospitals to add more practical trainings in courses.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A new level of understanding. Health insurers are developing health literacy initiatives and taking steps to help consumers get clear information.

Education experts are issuing an important warning to their health care colleagues: Few Americans understand their health care information. That's the conclusion drawn from a National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) survey that assessed the health literacy of 19,000 adults, only to conclude that the nation's health literacy is dangerously low and may even become a health risk for some. The data, which revealed that fewer than one in six adults and only one in three seniors has proficient health literacy--defined as an ability to understand, read, interpret, and then act on health care information--shed new light on health literacy as a significant operational issue for health care, business, and health plan executives.

Comprehension↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Literacy and self-reported educational levels in relation to Mini-mental State Examination scores.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Because of its brevity and ease of use, the Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) is commonly used to screen and follow patients with cognitive impairment. This pilot study attempted to determine the relationships between literacy, age, and self-reported educational level and the total MMSE score. METHODS: Cross-sectional analysis of all patients was followed by a family practice group at five local nursing homes. The associations between the patients' MMSE scores; literacy, as measured by the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM); self-reported educational level; and age were determined using Pearson's correlation coefficient and stepwise multivariate linear regression. RESULTS: A total of 105 patients completed the study. Linear regression analysis showed that MMSE scores were significantly predicted by REALM score (P < .001) and the patient's age (P < .02). However, after accounting for REALM score and age, the self-reported educational level was not related to the MMSE score (P < .8). A significant relationship was seen between the REALM score and the subjects' self-reported educational levels (r = .44, P < .001) but not the subjects' ages (r = -.17, P < 0.09). A significant linear correlation was found between the MMSE and REALM scores (r = .71, P < .0001) and a significant inverse correlation was seen between MMSE scores and the patients' ages (r = -.28, P < .004). The correlation coefficient between the patients' MMSE scores and the self-reported educational levels was .33 (P < .0007). CONCLUSIONS: Practitioners who rely on the MMSE should be aware that patients may score in the demented range because they cannot read well enough to accurately complete the test. Literacy testing with REALM or other instruments may help identify such patients.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Tobacco education in low-literacy individuals.

Approximately 20% of the adult population in the United States have low-literacy skills. The subpopulations with the highest incidence of low literacy are nearly identical to those with the highest prevalence of tobacco use. Low-literacy smokers are more likely to underestimate the risks related to tobacco use, have less social pressure and support to quit smoking, may experience more life stress and consequently rely more heavily on nicotine use for stress reduction and require more assistance in developing a sense of self-efficacy. This indicates a need to modify smoking cessation methods of counselling, content and selection of educational materials for the marginally literate. Currently available low-literacy materials are listed, and suggestions for adjusting or developing materials are made.

Adult↗