Assessing Health Literacy in Heart Failure Patients

JOURNAL OF CARDIAC FAILURE

卷:17

Article

Robinson, Susan¹  Moser, Debra²  Pelter, Michele M.³  Nesbitt, Thomas⁴ 

[1] Univ Calif San Francisco, Sch Nursing, San Francisco, CA 94143 USA

[2] Univ Kentucky, Lexington, KY USA

[3] Univ Nevada, Reno, NV 89557 USA

[4] Univ Calif Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817 USA

关键词: Health literacy;    heart failure;    rural population;    elderly;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.cardfail.2011.06.651

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Background: Health literacy has important implications for health interventions and clinical outcomes. The Shortened Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA) is a timed test used to assess health literacy in many clinical populations. However, its usefulness in heart failure (HF) patients, many of whom are elderly with compromised cognitive function, is unknown. We investigated the relationship between the S-TOFHLA total score at the recommended 7-minute limit and with no time limit (NTL). Methods and Results: We enrolled 612 rural-dwelling adults with HF (mean age 66.0 +/- 13.0 years, 58.8% male). Characteristics affecting health literacy were identified by multiple regression. Percentage of correct scores improved from 71% to 86% (mean percent change 15.1 +/- 18.1%) between the 7-minute and NIL scores. Twenty-seven percent of patients improved >= 1 literacy level with NTL scores (P < .001). Demographic variables explained 24.2% and 11.1% of the variance in % correct scores in the 7-minute and the NTL scores, respectively. Female gender, younger age, higher education, and higher income were related to higher scores. Conclusion: Patients with HF may be inaccurately categorized as having low or marginal health literacy when the S-TOFHLA time limits are enforced. New ways to assess health literacy in older adults are needed. (J Cardiac Fail 2011;17:887-892)

【 授权许可】

Free