Health Literacy and Use and Trust in Health Information

Abstract

There is a need to investigate which health information sources are used and trusted by people with limited health literacy to help identify strategies for addressing knowledge gaps that can contribute to preventable illness. We examined whether health literacy was associated with people's use of and trust in a range of potential health information sources. Six hundred participants from a GfK Internet survey panel completed an online survey. We assessed health literacy using the Newest Vital Sign, the sources participants used to get health information, and the extent to which participants trusted health information from these sources. We performed multivariable regressions, controlling for demographic characteristics. Lower health literacy was associated with lower odds of using medical websites for health information and with higher odds of using television, social media, and blogs or celebrity webpages. People with lower health literacy were less likely to trust health information from specialist doctors and dentists, but more likely to trust television, social media, blogs/celebrity webpages, friends, and pharmaceutical companies. People with limited health literacy had higher rates of using and trusting sources such as social media and blogs, which might contain lower quality health information compared to information from healthcare professionals. Thus, it might be necessary to enhance the public's ability to evaluate the quality of health information sources. The results of this study could be used to improve the reach of high-quality health information among people with limited health literacy and thereby increase the effectiveness of health communication programs and campaigns.

Differences in Rural and Urban Health Information Access and Use

“…Telemedicine, which uses interactive audio‐visual tools so the usual face‐to‐face communication between physician and patient is not required, could be used to improve access to and use of health information from health professionals in rural areas . Health professionals could develop interventions that target rural residents with limited health literacy to enhance their ability to evaluate the quality of health information, especially information from for‐profit companies . In newspapers and magazines, rural residents would also benefit from tailored health news, eliminating medical terms, and adding figures and pictures to help them understand the health information .…”

“…58,59 Health professionals could develop interventions that target rural residents with limited health literacy to enhance their ability to evaluate the quality of health information, especially information from for-profit companies. 24 In newspapers and magazines, rural residents would also benefit from tailored health news, eliminating medical terms, and adding figures and pictures to help them understand the health information. 60,61 In addition, a lack of statistical significance does not necessarily mean a lack of clinical or practical significance.…”

“…For example, individuals tend to use health professionals for information related to diagnosis or standard treatment, but they use friends for information related to coping strategies . Also, many previous studies categorized online health information sources as a single source, rather than differentiating between types of online sources; however, the use patterns vary among medical websites, social media, and celebrity webpages . Thus, it is important to differentiate among the wide variety of online health information sources to investigate people's health information access/use patterns in greater detail.…”

How do demographic variables affect pregnant women’s perceptions of obstetrics forceps: a cross sectional study

“…21 In turn, prior studies have shown that lower health literacy is linked to lower levels of trust in physicians. 22,23 The subgroup analysis of insurance status showed expected and unexpected ndings. Prior studies show that patients with Medicare or Medicaid have lower health literacy than patients with private insurance.…”

An instrument calibrated by Item Response Theory to assess knowledge about head and neck cancer

“…In order for the doctor, dental surgeon and other health professionals to diagnose a cancer, in addition to understanding the subject, they must admit the possibility of this disease 1 . Measuring the knowledge of these professionals contributes to the strengthening of policies to combat cancer [8][9][10][11][12][13] .…”