How Do Primary Care Organizations Rate Their Level of Organizational Health Literacy? Results of a Swiss Pilot-Study

Abstract

Primary care organizations offer a suitable setting to promote organizational health literacy (OHL) since they are a crucial interface for patients and clients. However, a clear picture on the OHL situation in primary care is lacking. The aim of this study was to assess OHL in Swiss primary care organizations by evaluating (i) how they rate their level of OHL and which improvement measures they accordingly plan (organizational level), (ii) what knowledge and attitudes among health professionals in primary care regarding OHL exist (individual level) and (iii) how teams working in general practitioners’ practices and a home care service organization differ regarding OHL (organizational and individual level). The research design included an online survey (N = 74, health professionals) on the individual level and a checklist and intervention documentation (N = 10, primary care teams) on the organizational level. The study reveals a crucial demand regarding organizationally embedded OHL practices in the participating primary care teams, despite a rather comprehensive understanding of the concept. The greatest need for action was identified in strengthening health literacy of staff members, which underlines the necessity to develop interventions to systematically strengthen the health literacy of health professionals.

Health Professionals’ Experience with the First Implementation of the Organizational Health Literacy Self-Assessment Tool for Primary Care (OHL Self-AsseT)—A Qualitative Reflexive Thematic Analysis

“…Dimension 4 ” Promoting health literacy of staff members “ was rated lowest, both by HCSO teams and GPP teams (59.5%). Detailed data on OHL level scores are presented in Beese et al (under review) [ 17 ].…”

“…In parallel, quantitative data on OHL knowledge, attitudes, and ratings were collected and analyzed. The results of those analyses are presented elsewhere [ 17 ].…”

“…The collected data from the intervention documentation (i.e., needs for action and planned improvement measures) is exemplary. The full quantitative results are presented elsewhere [ 17 ]. Our goal was to describe the participating team’s performance in relation to emerging qualitative themes in ways that would improve our understanding of the implementation process.…”

How socioeconomically disadvantaged people access, understand, appraise, and apply health information: A qualitative study exploring health literacy skills

“…Several tools or techniques, known as universal precautions, can be used to ensure patient comprehension, encourage them to ask questions, and improve health-information recall [ 52 ]. These include for example avoiding medical jargon, repeating and summarizing instructions, giving a limited number of instructions at a time, using pictograms or illustrations to complement oral information, and using the teach-back approach [ 50 , 52 , 53 ]. The latter is a known and promising technique for promoting understanding and recall [ 50 ].…”

“…To enhance the use of these strategies, interventions are necessary that aim to improve health professionals’ communication skills, encourage a more patient-oriented approach [ 51 ], and create a more supportive organizational environment. Curricula for the training of healthcare professionals should incorporate these communication techniques as a universal means to optimize patients’ understanding of the health information they receive [ 53 ]. According to the universalist approach, all patients will benefit from this type of strategy, regardless of whether they have high or low HL and a high or low socioeconomic status [ 51 ].…”