Health Literacy And Its Effects On Hispanic Population With Diabetes

An understanding of literacy, and health literacy is crucial to understand their impact on client health outcomes. Further, a nurse’s ability to better educate clients lies in his or her understanding of these terms. Literacy is a multilayered, dynamic and complex topic; however, in short literacy is a set of skills including reading, writing & oral skills, numeracy skills, and skills that enable us to acquire knowledge and information (Keefe & Copeland, 2011). Literacy can be understood through various theoretical lenses. Keefe & Copeland also highlight five principles we must keep in mind when thinking about literacy (2011). Firstly, all people are capable of acquiring literacy, however methods of acquiring literacy vary greatly. Literacy is also a human right, given its ability to shape human experience Literacy also serves as a crucial empowerment tool. Social interaction also contributes to literacy; it is developed through human ability to build relationships. Lastly, literacy is not the responsibility of an individual alone. Community, and human interaction nurture literacy as well.

Health literacy is based on one’s ability to acquire and process information so that the best possible health care choices can be made (Altin, Finke, Kautz-Freimuth, & Stock, 2014). Having adequate levels of health literacy is imperative to preventing disease/illness and maintaining optimal health. Current research documents the importance health literacy has on making informed health care decisions, allowing patient self-efficacy, and facilitating health and wellness (Aboumatar, Carson, Beach, Roter, & Cooper, 2013). When health literacy levels are low, individuals have trouble understanding the consequences of risky health behavior, tend to get sick more often, have more chronic disease, are more likely to be uninsured, and are less

Individuals who display a greater level of health literacy do reflect significantly higher health levels and wellbeing. Moreover, those individuals who engage in a more weaker health regimen of health behavior and show a lower level of health literacy usually have a poorer level of overall health (Kickbusch, 2001). Individuals who reflect a poor level of health literacy may also have a more arduous time communicating with providers, locating medical services, and utilizing the needed self-care instructions necessary to maintain their proper wellbeing. Furthermore, any low literacy deficiency can ultimately lead to a series of adverse health outcomes, such as longer hospitalization stays, an insufficient measure of preventative care, low health status, as well as a higher mortality rate (Green, Gonzaga, Cohen & Spagnoletti,

Health literacy is a term not widely understood by the general population. It is defined as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate health decisions and services needed to prevent or treat illness,” (About health literacy, 2014). A person’s level of health literacy is based on their age, education level, socioeconomic standing, and cultural background. Patients with low health literacy have a more difficult time navigating the health care system. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this group of patients may find it harder to find medical services and health care providers, fill out health forms, provide their

On October 12, 2017, Joan Morris, MSHA, MBA, RN, spoke with LEND trainees about Health Literacy. Joan defined health literacy as, “the ability to read, understand and act on health care information”. Many influences impact health literacy, including environmental factors such as socioeconomic status, occupation, employment, income, social support, media, language, and culture, in addition to a person’s physical qualities like age, gender, vision, hearing, verbal ability, memory, reasoning, physical abilities, social skills, and metacognitive skills (Health literacy and public health: A systematic review and integration of definitions and models).

Nutbeam (2000), stated that there are three levels of health literacy. Level one health literacy is known as functional health literacy, which means that clients have gained enough information to understand about health risks and health services. For example, in the article, the nurse could have ensured that Kate’s daughter Peri understood the important information that she needed to have in order to care for her mother by being able to read written health care information and act on both verbal and written instructions from health care practitioner (Kickbusch 2001). The second level is known as, communicative or interactive health literacy which improves personal skills and helps others develop their personal health capacity. Relating back to the article by Cherrington (2011), Kate’s family were involved and were communicating with the nurse regarding Kate’s health situation. However, she could have also ensured that her family knew about any other services that Kate required in order to provide effective care. The third level of literacy is known as, critical health literacy, this is where people use cognitive skills to improve an individual’s flexibility regarding social and economic

Mitic and Rootman (2012), discuss six reasons why health literacy is important. First, approximately 60% of Canadians are unable to understand and make decisions regarding their health. Second, having a lack of health literacy can lead to having poor health outcomes. For example, if a person does not fully understand their chronic disease, such as diabetes, they may not have the proper self-management skills to cope with the disease which could potentially result in hospitalization. The second reason goes hand-in-hand with the third reason of increasing rates of chronic diseases. With a lack of understanding, people may not know how to prevent or manage the chronic disease causing it to escalate to something more serious and may result in death. Low health literacy can also lead to extra costs spent on health care. Mitic and Rootman (2012), state that the additional expenses “ranged from 3 to 5% of the total health care cost per year”. This is due to people having a lack of understanding and require more health care attention than someone who has a higher health literacy. Also, with the advances of access to health information, the terminology used is often high-level and hard for most people

Health literacy is the extent in which a person can understand, basic health information such as medical terminology, medical forms, insurance information, health topics, medication instructions, etc.

Defining health literacy is a complex task, because ofthe many variables that contribute to its meaning.Some ofthe variables identifiedinclude: reading and writingcomprehension, ability tointerpret medical information and make informed decisions, cultural and language barriers, accession andexpense of treatment and assailablepopulations. All these components, among others, diminish capacity for insight forin-depth understanding.The World Health Organization defines health literacy as the cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and abiltiyof individuals to gain access to understand and use information in way which promote and maintain good health (WHO, 1998). The Institute of Medicines defines the concept as the individuals

The term of “health literacy” defined as the ability to read, understand and then act on healthcare information to maintain good health (Department of Health, 2011).The concepts of “health literacy” can be divided into three layers i.e. functional literacy, interactive literacy and critical literacy (Nutbeam, 2000). The most superficial layer is the functional literacy, which defined as cope with the situation with sufficient reading and writing skill in every day. Intermediate layer is the interactive literacy, which defined as advanced skills such as cognitive, literacy and social skill is required to extract and apply the skills to change the circumstances through the social interaction. The inner layer is the critical literacy, which defined

Health literacy has been a problem with our patients. The most vulnerable populations are the elderly, people with low-income levels, those with limited education, non-native speakers of English, those with chronic mental and physical health conditions, minority, and immigrant populations. Nurses have a great role in helping our patients succeed in understanding their health conditions. Nurses can be of great help in promoting health literacy. Sykes, Wills, Rowlands and Popple (2013) defined health literacy as the ability of individuals to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information. The three domains of health literacy, according to Bennett and Perkins (2012) as adapted from the (WHO) (1998) are functional health literacy, interactive literacy, and critical health literacy. Functional health literacy is basic reading and writing skills to be able to function effectively in a health context. Interactive health literacy is the used of more advanced cognitive and literacy skills to participate in health care. Critical health literacy is the ability to analyze critically and to use information to participate in action, to overcome structural barriers to health (p. 14). The U.S. Department of Education published the findings of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy conducted in 2003. The result showed that 36 % of adults have basic or below-basic skills for dealing with health material, 52 %

What is Health Literacy? First and Foremost, according to iHealth, Health literacy is an individual’s way of obtaining, processing, and understanding basic information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Many people never realize how much health literacy affects their everyday lifestyle. Simple things such as reading the back of a food label or researching health related issues on a reliable website are prime illustrations of health literacy. In the first scenario, a person demonstrates their ability to understand information that may negatively affect their health. Additionally, an individual researching their health related issue shows that they are able to obtain, process and understand their health issues. Therefore,

Health Literacy resides beneath the umbrella of social determinants; aptitude in this form of literacy is a determinant of wellbeing, and influences vulnerabilities and capacities towards disease formation and prevention (Reading & Wien, 2009). Health literacy is considered a motivating factor behind wellness and the absence of disease but also for appropriate management with regard to chronic disease with maximisation of outcomes directly attributing to health literacy capacity. Historically, health literacy had a subservient role in patient care, regardless of health consumer capacity and possessed an approach that lacked partnership, capacity building and thus empowerment. The significance of the relatively new and evolving concept of health literacy was unveiled with the emergence of patient education through the patient centred care approach, but also in other realms, such as primary health care in the form of health promotion and unequivocally indicated a central role in health maintenance, disease prevention and management. Capacity regarding health literacy is considered influential regarding health outcomes and as such is regarded as a key determinant for health with individual rates of health literacy varying and depend on cultural/geographical, & economical factors. There are varying elements (WITHIN) that reside under the umbrella of ‘Health literacy’ with three platforms titled: Functional, Conceptual and Empowerment in conjunction with six main

According to Ratzan (2001), health literacy was first introduced by Simonds in 1974, who argued that health education should be facilitated at school as a standard policy. It required students to learn literacy in science subjects in order to increase the vocabulary. Simply, health literacy is a ‘constellation of skills, including the ability to perform basic reading and numerical tasks required to function in the health care environment’ (Bresolin 1999). Beyond reading and numeracy skills, health literacy is further defined as ‘the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain and process and understand basic health related information and services needed to make

Health literacy is the peoples’ understanding of the information about health and health care. As well as how the information is applied to their lives including making decisions and representing it. Health literacy is essential to people’s lives as it form people’s health including the safety and quality of health care.