An Assessment of Canadian Criminalized Women's Health Information Preferences and Health Literacy Skills

Abstract

This research assessed criminalized women's health literacy skills. Health literacy is conceptualized as one's ability to access, understand, appraise, communicate, and act upon health information. Estimates of health literacy skill for criminalized women in Canada do not exist. The research question that guided this study was: what are the assessed health literacy skills of criminalized women? A cross-sectional survey design assessed participant demographics, health information preferences, and health literacy skills. The Newest Vital Sign (NVS) was administered to incarcerated women in Ontario, Canada. Descriptive statistics of demographic data and assessed health literacy skills were reported. Eighty-five women with a mean age of 29 years participated. The majority (N= 50, 65%) reported an income less than $14,999 (CAN) and 81% (N=68) reported their education level as a high school diploma or less. A range of health literacy skill [inadequate (51%), marginal (15%), adequate (34%)] were documented with a mean NVS score of 2.79± 1.75/6. The results demonstrated participants' had limited health literacy skills, which have far reaching implications for the development of health resources that strive to accommodate diverse health literacy skill and lived complexity. The results support population level reports of limited health literacy skill among marginalized Canadians.