Associations of health literacy and information sources with health-risk anxiety and protective behaviors

Kiuchi

2019

Front. Public Health

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Background: Health literacy (HL) is not solely an individual skill but a distributed resource available within individual's social networks. This study explored the associations between individual and family member HL using two separate self-report measures of HL: the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q47) and the Communicative and Critical Health Literacy scale (CCHL). Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted with 501 pairs of Japanese residents aged 30 to 79 and their family members whom they most often consulted for help with health issues. HL was measured using HLS-EU-Q47 and CCHL. Results: The HL scores of individuals and their family members were positively correlated for both measures. The correlation was stronger for the HLS-EU-Q47, presumably because it measures the perceived manageability of health-related tasks that implicitly depend on the availability of support for an individual. In contrast, the CCHL measures a single individual's perceived abilities. Both individual and family member CCHL scores were independently related to individual HLS-EU-Q47 scores, particularly when an individual had a family member with a higher CCHL score than his/her own. Conclusions: Limited individual ability to achieve health-related tasks might be compensated for by the higher ability of other family members. In addressing problems with limited health literacy, future studies should focus not only on the individual but also on people who can provide an individual with support.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Association of Health Literacy Levels Between Family Members

Kiuchi

2019

Front. Public Health

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“…Second, the participants were all volunteers and relatively well‐educated and motivated to learn about health care. The mean score of baseline health literacy was 3.67, which was somewhat higher than that of a previous nationwide online survey of the Japanese general population (N = 712; mean ± SD, 3.59 ± 0.62), but lower than a study of Japanese male office workers who were all university graduates (N = 190; mean ± SD, 3.72 ± 0.68) . The generalizability of our findings to the general population is debatable.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 77%

Improving health literacy in a Japanese community population—A pilot study to develop an educational programme

Yamaguchi²,

Nutbeam

et al. 2018

Health Expectations

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ObjectiveAlthough a growing number of interventional studies on health literacy have been conducted recently, the majority were designed in clinical settings, focusing mainly on functional health literacy. This study evaluated a programme designed to improve health literacy in a community population, with a scope of going beyond functional health literacy.MethodsIn collaboration with an Approved Specified Nonprofit organization (NPO), we evaluated a five‐session programme designed to provide basic knowledge on health‐care policy and systems, current issues in health care in Japan, patient roles and relationships with health‐care providers and interpersonal skills. In total, 67 of 81 programme participants agreed to participate in the study, and 54 returned the completed questionnaires at baseline and at follow‐up. Health literacy and trust in the medical profession were measured at baseline and at follow‐up. Participants’ learning through the programme was qualitatively analysed by thematic analysis.ResultsQuantitative examinations of the changes in health literacy and degree of trust in medical professionals between the baseline and follow‐up suggested that health literacy significantly improved after implementing the programme. The thematic analysis of participants’ learning throughout the programme suggested that they not only acquired knowledge and skills but also experienced a shift in their beliefs and behaviours.DiscussionProviding individuals who are motivated to learn about health‐care systems and collaborate with health‐care providers with the necessary knowledge and skills may improve their health literacy, which could enable them to maintain and promote their health and that of their family and other people around them.

“…This study examined the relationship between health literacy and utilization of health-care services in a general Japanese population. The mean score for health literacy among all participants was 3.61 (SD = 0.64), which is higher than that observed in a nationwide online survey of the general Japanese population (N = 712; mean ± SD, 3.59 ± 0.62) (Ishikawa et al, 2016). Among workers, the mean score for health literacy was 3.64 (SD = 0.62).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 61%

Relationship of health literacy with utilization of health-care services in a general Japanese population

Goto

Preventive Medicine Reports

Okuhara

et al. 2019

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Many studies have explored the association between health literacy and health-care utilization; however, the majority assessed functional health literacy in terms of basic skills. Japan's health-care and medical examination system in workplaces is different from that of other major countries. This study examined the relationship of health literacy with health-care use (emergency visit, hospitalization, dental checkup, and health checkup or cancer screening); it focused on differences by occupation and health-care service utilization among general Japanese using the communicative and critical health literacy scale. We conducted a cross-sectional observational study of 1002 Japanese residents. Through a questionnaire, we investigated socioeconomic status, health status, health-care use, and health literacy. Among all participants and non-workers, logistic regression analyses revealed that health literacy was significantly associated with health checkup or cancer screening after adjusting for sex, age, marital status, education, and having a disease or disorder (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.431, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.131–1.810; adjusted OR = 1.614, 95% CI, 1.114–2.339, respectively). Among workers, we observed no significant association between health literacy and health-care utilization. These results indicate that health literacy is closely related to use of preventive health-care. Japan's health-care system in workplaces may promote use of preventive health-care services regardless of health literacy, whereas improving health literacy may be more critical among non-workers.