Health Literacy-Related Knowledge, Attitude, and Perceived Barriers: A Cross-sectional Study among Physicians, Pharmacists, and Nurses in Public Hospitals of Penang, Malaysia

Abstract

IntroductionPatients’ health literacy (HL) has emerged as a critical determinant of health outcomes and becoming one of the core competencies of health-care providers. Therefore, this study aimed to assess among Malaysian physicians, pharmacists, and nurses, their HL-related knowledge, attitude, and perceived barriers, and also to determine the associated factors.MethodsA cross-sectional study design was used to enroll 600 eligible respondents using stratified sampling from 6 public hospitals in Penang, Malaysia. A validated self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive and inferential analysis was performed with statistical significance defined as p < 0.05.ResultsThe response rate was 87.6% with 526 questionnaires completed. Of these, 34.2% had poor knowledge, and more than half had negative attitude (51.9%) toward HL with no significant differences among physicians, pharmacists, and nurses. The majority of the respondents perceived time constraints and lack of human resources as major HL barriers. Respondents who had heard the term or concept of HL had significantly higher level of knowledge (p < 0.001) and more positive attitude (p < 0.001). While longer service years (≥11 years) significantly contribute to the higher level of HL knowledge among health-care providers (p = 0.028).ConclusionThe study findings supported the concern on inadequate knowledge and substantially negative attitude toward HL among study health-care providers with highest cited barriers were time constraint and human resources. Thus, efforts to improve their perspective about HL to be effective patient educators are highly advocated.

An insight into the perception of community pharmacists on health literacy

“…Another point of concern is the high proportion (41.2%) of the pharmacists not practicing the HL strategies regularly. These findings are consistent with a similar study conducted in another developing country, Malaysia …”

“…The study also highlights the perceived barriers towards HL and unlike other studies, time constraint was not regarded as the main obstacle in practicing and applying HL skills. This study identifies the ‘lack of knowledge’ and ‘lack of organizational resources as the major barriers to HL among the community pharmacists.…”

“…A 41‐item questionnaire (Appendix ) was developed after performing thorough literature review. Influences were drawn from a research published earlier . The content and face validity were performed by the experts in the field and piloting the survey on five conveniently selected pharmacies.…”

“…This definition not only places responsibility on the healthcare providers to communicate and render the information effectively but also empowers the members of public to have a more active role in health‐related decision and management . In recent years, HL has emerged as a critical determinant of health outcomes and becoming one of the core competencies of healthcare providers . The topic gained a critical attention over the past few years especially in developed countries where numerous studies were conducted to assess the knowledge and perception of healthcare providers about HL.…”

Relation between health literacy, self-care and adherence to treatment with oral anticoagulants in adults: a narrative systematic review

“…We therefore encourage the development and reporting of research where the relation and impact of factors such as self-care, treatment duration, disease stage, disease aetiology and HL level are considered. In addition, we highlight the lack of studies where interventions aimed at mitigating the impact of low HL on clinical and health outcomes are described [ 45 , 46 ].…”