Health literacy, at the intersection of health and education, involves more than reading ability. Studies of health literacy abilities show that many Americans with the greatest health care needs have the least ability to comprehend information required to navigate and function in the U.S. health care system. This paper defines health literacy as an important policy issue and offers strategies ...

Background & aim: Health literacy is the degree to which individuals can obtain, process, and understand the required basic health information and services to enhance and sustain good health status. Mothers with higher health literacy may have more physical activity than others in the postpartum period. This study sought to assess the effect of an educational program based on health literacy st...

OBJECTIVES To estimate the prevalence of low health literacy, and evaluate the impact of low health literacy on outcomes in patients with chronic musculoskeletal conditions. DATA SOURCES We searched Embase, Pubmed, PsycInfo, and CINAHL in January 2011 for relevant studies, restricted to English-language articles. STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION Studies were included if they measured hea...

The impact of parental health literacy and the health outcomes of young children is a poorly studied area. DeWalt et al., summarized the pertinent literature regarding literacy and child outcomes, not necessarily health literacy, from 1980 through 2008 [1]. They presented 24 studies that dealt with the relationship between literacy and child health outcomes and found that lower literacy was ass...

BACKGROUND Recent research has begun to recognize the important influence of literacy levels and how they affect health and wellbeing, especially in older adults. Our study focuses on health and financial literacy, two domains of literacy which previous research has suggested may be significantly related to health and wellbeing. Our study examines the relation of health and financial literacy w...

OBJECTIVE Family caregivers play a significant role in the diagnosis, treatment, and recovery of individuals with cancer. This position paper reviews and links the research on family caregiving and health information with the importance of cancer literacy. METHOD Review of literature obtained through searching in Academic Search Premier, EBSCO, Communication and Mass Media Complete, PsychArti...

BACKGROUND There is a high prevalence of non-adherence to immunosuppressants in kidney transplant recipients. Although limited health literacy is common in kidney recipients and is linked to adverse outcomes in other medical populations, its effect on medication adherence in kidney transplant recipients remains poorly understood. The objective was to investigate the effect of lower health liter...

BACKGROUND Health literacy is the ability to obtain, read, understand and use healthcare information to make appropriate health decisions and follow instructions for treatment. The aim of this study was to identify the effect of various factors on health literacy in patients with diabetes. METHODS 407 patients with diabetes older than 15 years of age were identified from the Diabetes Clinic a...

BACKGROUND Lower health literacy is a public health issue that follows a social gradient, potentially reinforcing existing health inequalities. However, levels of health literacy in particular populations can be unclear and are a key to identifying effective public health interventions. This research examined health literacy levels in Stoke-on-Trent, where 31.2% of the population live in areas ...