A pilot study to assess oral health literacy by comparing a word recognition and comprehension tool

BMC Oral Health

Susan Reisine⁴  Jean J Schensul¹  Ruth S Goldblatt²  Brendan Ruby³  Khadija Khan³ 

[1]The Institute of Community Research, Hartford, CT 06106, USA

[2]Department of Craniofacial Sciences, Division of General Dentistry, University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine, Farmington, CT 06030, USA

[3]University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine, Farmington, CT 06030, USA

[4]Division of Behavioral Sciences and Community Health MC3910, University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine, Farmington, CT 06030, USA

关键词: Word recognition;    Comprehension;    Oral health status;    Gender;    Oral health knowledge;    Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry-30;    Oral health literacy;    Health literacy;    Oral health;    Older adults;   

Others  :  1091265
DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6831-14-135

 received in 2014-05-30, accepted in 2014-10-23,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Oral health literacy is important to oral health outcomes. Very little has been established on comparing word recognition to comprehension in oral health literacy especially in older adults. Our goal was to compare methods to measure oral health literacy in older adults by using the Rapid Estimate of Literacy in Dentistry (REALD-30) tool including word recognition and comprehension and by assessing comprehension of a brochure about dry mouth.

Methods

75 males and 75 females were recruited from the University of Connecticut Dental practice. Participants were English speakers and at least 50 years of age. They were asked to read the REALD-30 words out loud (word recognition) and then define them (comprehension). Each correctly-pronounced and defined word was scored 1 for total REALD-30 word recognition and REALD-30 comprehension scores of 0–30. Participants then read the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research brochure “Dry Mouth” and answered three questions defining dry mouth, causes and treatment. Participants also completed a survey on dental behavior.

Results

Participants scored higher on REALD-30 word recognition with a mean of 22.98 (SD = 5.1) compared to REALD-30 comprehension with a mean of 16.1 (SD = 4.3). The mean score on the brochure comprehension was 5.1 of a possible total of 7 (SD = 1.6). Pearson correlations demonstrated significant associations among the three measures. Multivariate regression showed that females and those with higher education had significantly higher scores on REALD-30 word-recognition, and dry mouth brochure questions. Being white was significantly related to higher REALD-30 recognition and comprehension scores but not to the scores on the brochure.

Conclusions

This pilot study demonstrates the feasibility of using the REALD-30 and a brochure to assess literacy in a University setting among older adults. Participants had higher scores on the word recognition than on comprehension agreeing with other studies that recognition does not imply understanding.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Khan et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

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