Can this patient read and understand written health information?

dc.contributor.author

Powers, Benjamin J

dc.contributor.author

Trinh, Jane V

dc.contributor.author

Bosworth, Hayden B

dc.date.accessioned

2021-11-01T13:21:24Z

dc.date.available

2021-11-01T13:21:24Z

dc.date.issued

2010-07

dc.date.updated

2021-11-01T13:21:24Z

dc.description.abstract

Context

Patients with limited literacy are at higher risk for poor health outcomes; however, physicians' perceptions are inaccurate for identifying these patients.

Objective

To systematically review the accuracy of brief instruments for identifying patients with limited literacy.

Data sources

Search of the English-language literature from 1969 through February 2010 using PubMed, Psychinfo, and bibliographies of selected manuscripts for articles on health literacy, numeracy, reading ability, and reading skill.

Study selection

Prospective studies including adult patients 18 years or older that evaluated a brief instrument for identifying limited literacy in a health care setting compared with an accepted literacy reference standard.

Data extraction

Studies were evaluated independently by 2 reviewers who each abstracted information and assigned an overall quality rating. Disagreements were adjudicated by a third reviewer.

Data synthesis

Ten studies using 6 different instruments met inclusion criteria. Among multi-item measures, the Newest Vital Sign (English) performed moderately well for identifying limited literacy based on 3 studies. Among the single-item questions, asking about a patient's use of a surrogate reader, confidence filling out medical forms, and self-rated reading ability performed moderately well in identifying patients with inadequate or marginal literacy. Asking a patient, "How confident are you in filling out medical forms by yourself?" is associated with a summary likelihood ratio (LR) for limited literacy of 5.0 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.8-6.4) for an answer of "a little confident" or "not at all confident"; a summary LR of 2.2 (95% CI, 1.5-3.3) for "somewhat confident"; and a summary LR of 0.44 (95% CI, 0.24-0.82) for "quite a bit" or "extremely confident."

Conclusion

Several single-item questions, including use of a surrogate reader and confidence with medical forms, were moderately effective for quickly identifying patients with limited literacy.
dc.identifier

304/1/76

dc.identifier.issn

0098-7484

dc.identifier.issn

1538-3598

dc.identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/23939

dc.language

eng

dc.publisher

American Medical Association (AMA)

dc.relation.ispartof

JAMA

dc.relation.isversionof

10.1001/jama.2010.896

dc.subject

Humans

dc.subject

Self Care

dc.subject

Physician-Patient Relations

dc.subject

Psychometrics

dc.subject

Reference Values

dc.subject

Educational Status

dc.subject

Forms and Records Control

dc.subject

Health Literacy

dc.title

Can this patient read and understand written health information?

dc.type

Journal article

duke.contributor.orcid

Bosworth, Hayden B|0000-0001-6188-9825

pubs.begin-page

76

pubs.end-page

84

pubs.issue

1

pubs.organisational-group

School of Medicine

pubs.organisational-group

Medicine, General Internal Medicine

pubs.organisational-group

Duke

pubs.organisational-group

Medicine

pubs.organisational-group

Clinical Science Departments

pubs.organisational-group

Duke Cancer Institute

pubs.organisational-group

Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development

pubs.organisational-group

Population Health Sciences

pubs.organisational-group

Duke Science & Society

pubs.organisational-group

Institutes and Centers

pubs.organisational-group

Basic Science Departments

pubs.organisational-group

Initiatives

pubs.organisational-group

Institutes and Provost's Academic Units

pubs.publication-status

Published

pubs.volume

304

Files

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
jrc05004_76_84.pdf
Size:
146.25 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format