The relationship of patient reading ability to self-reported health and use of health services.

Baker, David W.; Parker, Ruth M.; Williams, Mark; Clark, William S.; Nurss, Joanne R.

doi:10.2105/ajph.87.6.1027

Cited by 610 publications

(482 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Those with poor health literacy are at higher risk for seeking emergency care, have more frequent hospital admissions with longer stays in the hospital [21], are prone to missing medical appointments, have poor compliance with treatment recommendations [1,5,18,39,44,51], and greater disease progression [28]. Patients typically have reading skills that are about five grades lower than the highest attained educational grade [26,31].…”

Section: Where Are We Now? the Patient And Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing Readability of Patient Education Materials: Current Role in Orthopaedics

Badarudeen

Sabharwal²

2010

Clinical Orthopaedics &Amp; Related Research

453

433

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Background Health literacy is the single best predictor of an individual's health status. It is important to customize health-related education material to the individual patient's level of reading skills. Readability of a given text is the objective measurement of the reading skills one should possess to understand the written material. Questions/purposes In this article, some of the commonly used readability assessment tools are discussed and guidelines to improve the comprehension of patient education handouts are provided. Where are we now? Several healthcare organizations have recommended the readability of patient education materials be no higher than sixth-to eighth-grade level. However, most of the patient education materials currently available on major orthopaedic Web sites are written at a reading level that may be too advanced for comprehension by a substantial proportion of the population. Where do we need to go? There are several readily available and validated tools for assessing the readability of written materials. While use of audiovisual aids such as video clips, line drawings, models, and charts can enhance the comprehension of a health-related topic, standard readability tools cannot construe such enhancements. How do we get there? Given the variability in the capacity to comprehend health-related materials among individuals seeking orthopaedic care, stratifying the contents of patient education materials at different levels of complexity will likely improve health literacy and enhance patient-centered communication.

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Section: Where Are We Now? the Patient And Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An individual's health literacy is considered the single best predictor of their health status [5,27,51]. Health literacy is defined as the ''capacity to obtain, interpret, and understand basic health information and services and the competence to use such information and services to enhance health'' [22,44].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Readability of Patient Education Materials: Current Role in Orthopaedics

Badarudeen

Sabharwal²

2010

Clinical Orthopaedics &Amp; Related Research

453

433

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“…2 Early on, this led many researchers and health professionals to design solutions to the problem that solely involved the modification of health materials following best practices for plain language and format. 3,4 Consequently. these interventions were somewhat effective at improving comprehension and knowledge, but had variable to no impact on behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The Mini Mental Status Exam as a Surrogate Measure of Health Literacy

Dahlke¹,

Curtis

Federman

et al. 2013

J GEN INTERN MED

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BACKGROUND: Studies have documented strong associations between cognitive function, health literacy skills, and health outcomes, such that outcome performance may be partially explained by cognitive ability. Common cognitive assessments such as the Mini Mental Status Exam (MMSE) therefore may be measuring the same latent construct as existing health literacy tools. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the potential of the MMSE as a surrogate measure of health literacy by comparing its convergent and predictive validity to the three most commonly used health literacy assessments and education. SUBJECTS: 827 older adults recruited from an academic general internal medicine ambulatory care clinic or one of five federally qualified health centers in Chicago, IL. Non-English speakers and those with severe cognitive impairment were excluded. MEASURES: Pearson correlations were completed to test the convergent validity of the MMSE with assessments of health literacy and education. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves and the d statistic were calculated to determine the optimal cut point on the MMSE for classifying participants with limited health literacy. Multivariate logistic regression models were completed to measure the predictive validity of the new MMSE cut point. KEY RESULTS: The MMSE was found to have moderate to high convergent validity with the existing health literacy measures. The ROC and d statistic analyses suggested an optimal cut point of ≤ 27 on the MMSE. The new threshold score was found to predict health outcomes at least as well as, or better than, existing health literacy measures or education alone. CONCLUSIONS: The MMSE has considerable face validity as a health literacy measure that could be easily administered in the healthcare setting. Further research should aim to validate this cut point and examine the constructs being measured by the MMSE and other literacy assessments.

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“…Studies have shown that persons with less education and lower health literacy are less likely to undergo routine cancer screening, and more likely to be uninsured or of low income (7)(8)(9). Women who live in economically deprived areas of the United States and Great Britain have been reported to have an increased mortality and other poor health outcomes (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cervical Cancer Screening among Women in Metropolitan Areas of the United States by Individual-Level and Area-Based Measures of Socioeconomic Status, 2000 to 2002

Coughlin

King

Richards

et al. 2006

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers &Amp; Prevention

109

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Background: Few studies have examined cancer screening among women residing in metropolitan areas in relation to both individual-level and area-based measures of socioeconomic status (SES). To learn more, we examined selfreported rates of Papanicolaou (Pap) testing among women living in metropolitan areas in relation to individual-level measures of SES (household income and education), and area-based measures of SES (percentage of residents living in poverty, percentage with low education, and percentage working class). Methods: Data were obtained from women who were interviewed by telephone during 2000 and 2002 as part of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Self-reported county of residence was used to classify respondents as residents of metropolitan statistical areas. Only BRFSS respondents who resided in 35 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of z1.5 million in 2000 were included in this analysis. Analyses were limited to women ages z18 years with no history of hysterectomy (n = 49,231). Area-based measures of SES were obtained

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The relationship of patient reading ability to self-reported health and use of health services.

Cited by 610 publications

References 23 publications

Assessing Readability of Patient Education Materials: Current Role in Orthopaedics

Assessing Readability of Patient Education Materials: Current Role in Orthopaedics

The Mini Mental Status Exam as a Surrogate Measure of Health Literacy

Cervical Cancer Screening among Women in Metropolitan Areas of the United States by Individual-Level and Area-Based Measures of Socioeconomic Status, 2000 to 2002

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