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The ability to read and understand medication instructions is a form of health literacy.
Health literacy is the ability to obtain, read, understand, and use healthcare information in order to make appropriate health decisions and follow instructions for treatment.[1] There are multiple definitions of health literacy,[2] in part, because health literacy involves both the context (or setting) in which health literacy demands are made (e.g., health care, media, internet or fitness facility) and the skills that people bring to that situation.[3]
Since health literacy is a primary contributing factor to health disparities, it is a continued and increasing concern for health professionals.[4] The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) conducted by the US Department of Education found that 36% of participants scored as either "basic" or "below basic" in terms of their health literacy and concluded that approximately 80 million Americans have limited health literacy.[5] These individuals have difficulty with common health tasks including reading the label of a prescribed drug.[6] Several factors may influence health literacy. However, the following factors have been shown to strongly increase this risk: age (especially patients 65 years and older), limited English language proficiency or English as a second language, chronic conditions, less education, and lower socioeconomic status.[7] Patients with low health literacy understand less about their medical conditions and treatments and overall report worse health status.[8]
Various interventions, such as simplifying information and illustrations, avoiding jargon, using "teach-back" methods, and encouraging patients' questions, have improved health behaviors in persons with low health literacy.[9] The proportion of adults aged 18 and over in the U.S., in the year 2010, who reported that their health care providers always explained things so they could understand them was about 60.6%.[10] This number increased 1% from 2007 to 2010.[10] The Healthy People 2020 initiative of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has included health literacy as a pressing new topic, with objectives for improving it in the decade to come.[11]
In planning for Healthy People 2030 (the fifth edition of Healthy People), HHS[12] issued a "Solicitation for Written Comments on an Updated Health Literacy Definition for Healthy People." Several proposals address the fact that "health literacy is multidimensional",[13] being the result of a concerted effort that involves the individual seeking care or information, providers and caregivers, the complexity and demands of the system, and the use of plain language for communication.
^Roundtable on Health Literacy; Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice; Institute of the Medicine (10 February 2012). Facilitating State Health Exchange Communication Through the Use of Health Literate Practices: Workshop Summary. National Academies Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-309-22029-3.
^A. Pleasant; J. McKinney (2011). "Coming to consensus on health literacy measurement: An online discussion and consensus-gauging process". Nursing Outlook. 59 (2): 95–106.e1. doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2010.12.006. PMID 21402205.
^Atkinson, Richard C.; Jackson, Gregg B. (1992-01-01). Research and Education Reform. doi:10.17226/1973. ISBN 978-0-309-04729-6.
^İlgün, Gülnur; Turaç, İlkay Sevinç; Orak, Sevilay (2015-02-12). "Health Literacy". Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. International Conference on New Horizons in Education, INTE 2014, 25–27 June 2014, Paris, France. 174: 2629–2633. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.944. ISSN 1877-0428.
^Kutner, MA; Greenberg, E; Jin, Y; Paulson, C (2006). The Health Literacy of America's Adults: Results From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
^"America's Health Literacy: Why We Need Accessible Health Information". health.gov. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
^Hickey, Kathleen (February 27, 2019). "Low Health Literacy". The Nurse Practitioner. 43 (8): 49–55. doi:10.1097/01.NPR.0000541468.54290.49. PMC 6391993. PMID 30028773.
^"Health literacy: report of the Council on Scientific Affairs. Ad Hoc Committee on Health Literacy for the Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association". JAMA. 281 (6): 552–557. 1999-02-10. doi:10.1001/jama.281.6.552. ISSN 0098-7484. PMID 10022112.
^Yin, H. Shonna; Jay, Melanie; Maness, Leslie; Zabar, Sondra; Kalet, Adina (15 July 2015). "Health Literacy: An Educationally Sensitive Patient Outcome". Journal of General Internal Medicine. 30 (9): 1363–1368. doi:10.1007/s11606-015-3329-z. ISSN 0884-8734. PMC 4539338. PMID 26173523.
^ ab"Health Communication and Health Information Technology - Healthy People 2020".
^"Health Communication and Health Information Technology - Healthy People 2020".
^"Solicitation for Written Comments on an Updated Health Literacy Definition for Healthy People 2030". Federal Register. 2019-06-04. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
^Sparano, Romina Marazzato (2020-02-26). "Health Literacy is Multidimensional". Language Compass. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
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