Health literacy and its sociodemographic and health determinants.
Cristiane Ribas, Christiane de Fátima Colet, Edgar Noé Morelos-Garcia and 5 others
PMID 42284486WHAT IT FOUND
Emergency care users rated social support and judging health information as strengths, but understanding clinician advice and getting enough information as weaknesses.
Older adults, higher education, reading habit and treatment adherence had higher health literacy scores.
Key findings
01Among 550 adult users of a 24-hour emergency care unit, social support for health and evaluation of health information were the strongest health literacy domains, while understanding and support from healthcare professionals, sufficient information and active health care were weaker.
02Health literacy scores were significantly higher in users with higher education or postgraduate degrees, especially in understanding and support from professionals, sufficient information, active care and evaluation of information.
03A reading habit was associated with better scores in all health literacy dimensions, and treatment adherence was linked to better outcomes in almost all dimensions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a cross-sectional survey at one type I emergency unit, so it cannot show cause or effect. Red-risk patients and people with cognitive impairment were excluded, so the results may not apply to the most acutely unwell or vulnerable users. Health literacy and adherence were self-reported, and the study did not test whether any communication strategy improves outcomes.
Declared interests
Financial support came from CNPq, PIBIC and Fapergs grants.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use these patterns to predict an individual patient's understanding or to conclude that education causes better health literacy. The study was cross-sectional, single-site, and excluded red-risk and cognitively impaired patients.