What percentage of people have health literacy?
Only 12% of Americans are considered proficient in their health literacy skills. They have a sufficient level of health literacy to navigate our complex health system, engage in complex medical discussions, and fully participate in managing their health.
How many people are affected by low health literacy?
Low health literacy is associated with patients who are older, have limited education, lower income, chronic conditions, and those who are non-native English speakers. Approximately 80 million adults in the United States are estimated to have limited or low health literacy.
How is health literacy measured?
Two measures of health literacy are the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) test (Davis et al., 1991) and the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) (Parker et al., 1995).
Who is most affected by health literacy?
Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions. Low health literacy is more prevalent among: Older adults. Minority populations.
How does health literacy influence the health of populations?
Low health literacy has been consistently associated with poor health outcomes, including poorer health status [7–9], lack of knowledge about medical conditions and related care [10], lack of engagement with health care providers [11], decreased comprehension of medical information [10], mortality [12], and poorer use …
What is the impact of low health literacy?
Low health literacy has been associated with nonadherence to treatment plans and medical regimens, poor patient self-care, high health-care costs, and increased risk of hospitalization and mortality.
What is the health literacy questionnaire?
The Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) is now one of the most widely used health literacy measures in the world. Each scale is reliable and generates key information about an individual’s perceived health literacy abilities, and their experiences.
What is health literacy and how is it measured?
Health literacy is defined as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions” (Ratzan and Parker, 2000). This definition focuses on individual capability, although it does imply needed skills.
What affects health literacy?
A number of factors may influence an individual’s health literacy, including living in poverty, education, race/ethnicity, age, and disability. Adults living below the poverty level have lower health literacy than adults living above the poverty level.
What are the 5 levels of literacy?
As a child grows older and demonstrates the key stages of literacy development they will improve their reading and writing ability. The five stages of literacy development include emergent literacy, alphabetic fluency, words and patterns, intermediate reading, and advanced reading.
What are the four types of literacy?
Types of literacies.
What are the levels of health literacy?
Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. 1 Health literacy is dependent on individual and systemic factors: Communication…
What causes low health literacy?
Disabilities such as cognitive decline and learning disabilities may be associated with lower health literacy. A cognitive decline can be found in the elderly which affects the ability to memorise or remember a prescription, and their reasons in making health decisions — that in turn, affect health literacy performance.
How prevalent is low health literacy?
More than 90 million adults in the United States have low health literacy. It affects their ability to make health decisions. This can harm their health.
Why is health literacy so important?
Health literacy is important because it helps people find the right health care and services, take care of a chronic condition or disease, or simply maintain their health and wellness.