Importance of health literacy in oncology

Abstract

Health literacy refers to one's ability to obtain, process and understand health information and services to enable sound health decision-making. This is an area of increasing importance due to the complexity of the health system, especially in the cancer setting. A certain level of health literacy is required for patients to fully understand health information and services to make sound decisions about their health care, including decisions about screening and treatment. Previous research has suggested that a significant proportion of the population may have limited health literacy. Suboptimal health literacy is an independent risk factor for poor health outcomes, including increased risk of hospitalization. Cancer patients with poor health literacy may have misconceptions about their disease and ineffective communication with their health professionals, leading to unnecessary interventions, under-treatment or poor adherence to their treatment plans. In addition, cancer patients who have a poor understanding of their disease may experience greater anxiety and be more dissatisfied with their care. Various strategies have been suggested to assist cancer patients with low health literacy. However, more work needs to be done to support all cancer patients with varying levels of health literacy, thus enhancing health experiences and health outcomes.

Improving mutation notification when new genetic information is identified in research: a trial of two strategies in familial breast cancer

“…26 Poor health literacy, and poor genetic literacy specifically, is an important problem. 27 In one recent study, 30% of Australians with a university degree had poor health literacy, and the results for Australians without tertiary education were, not surprisingly, worse. 28 Individuals with poor health literacy have more difficulties understanding and remembering health information, 27 and find the complex information surrounding cancer 29 and genetics 30 particularly daunting.…”

Adolescent survivor of childhood Acute Myeloid Leukaemia undertakes pregnancy with a severe anthracycline induced cardiomyopathy and risk taking behaviours

“…[22] Low health literacy in adults is well known to be associated with misconceptions about a diagnosis and prognosis, which in turn can lead to poor adherence to management plans and greater anxiety levels. [23] However, little is known about how health literacy effects AYA-aged cancer survivors' health outcomes [24] or in fact how they develop health literacy skills at a critical time where they are about to take on from their parents the responsibility for their own healthcare. Whilst AYA aged patients with chronic illness, including AYA-aged cancer survivors dealing with late effects, may demonstrate a desire for a greater degree of autonomy in their healthcare much earlier than compared to their healthy peers, [25] whether they are being equipped with adequate health literacy skills remains unknown.…”

Cancer Knowledge and Opportunities for Education Among HIV-Infected Patients in an Urban Academic Medical Center

“…Health literacy is defined as "the capacity to obtain, process and understand health information and services to make health decisions." [14]. Studies have shown that older age and lower education level are strongly associated with lower levels of health literacy [14].…”