Knowing health literacy levels of older patients and their caregivers is important because caregivers assist patients in the administration of medications, manage daily health care tasks, and help make health services utilization decisions. The authors examined the association of health literacy levels between older Hispanic patients and their caregivers among 174 patient-caregiver dyads enroll...

The term physical literacy is relatively new, and its definition, conceptual underpinning, how it is measured, how to change it, and its relationship with holistic health and wellness across the life span are a few of many foundational issues that lack consensus. At present, there are more questions than answers. The purpose of this article is to highlight 10 important research questions relate...

background: poor literacy can impede one’s ability not only to seek out needed health information but also to process, understand and use it to make appropriate health care decisions. the objective of the study was to assess the health literacy among adult patients seeking oral health care at in a private dental hospital in bangalore, karnataka, india. materials and methods: a cross sectional q...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Warfarin is an effective drug for the prevention of thromboembolism in the elderly. The major risk for patients taking warfarin is bleeding. We aimed to assess the impact of psychosocial factors, including mood, cognition, social isolation, and health literacy on warfarin instability among community-based elderly patients. METHODS A case-control study was conducted betw...

The treatment of chronic illnesses commonly includes the long-term use of pharmacotherapy. Although these medications are effective in combating disease, their full benefits are often not realized because approximately 50% of patients do not take their medications as prescribed. Factors contributing to poor medication adherence are myriad and include those that are related to patients (eg, subo...

BACKGROUND While self-medication is common, inappropriate self-medication has potential risks. This study assesses inappropriate self-medication among adolescents and examines the relationships among medication literacy, substance use, and inappropriate self-medication. METHOD In 2016, a national representative sample of 6,226 students from 99 primary, middle, and high schools completed an on...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Pediatric literacy promotion programs carried out in the primary care setting, such as Reach Out and Read (ROR), have been associated with improved language skills for preschool children. Primary care physicians have frequent contact with young families and may be well situated for a literacy promotion program for both children and adults. We examined whether introduci...

OBJECTIVES To introduce a multi-site assessment of oral health literacy and to describe preliminary analyses of the relationships between health literacy and selected oral health outcomes within the context of a comprehensive conceptual model. METHODS Data for this analysis came from the Multi-Site Oral Health Literacy Research Study (MOHLRS), a federally funded investigation of health litera...

BACKGROUND Both financial literacy (managing personal finances) and health literacy (managing personal health) become increasingly important for older adults, potentially impacting their quality of life. Resources in these constructs of literacy tend to be distinct, although the skills and decision-making involved overlap as financial issues impact healthcare choices. Thus the primary purpose o...