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Patients' literacy skills: more than just reading ability
Matthias Schonlau1, Laurie Martin, Ann Haas
1RAND Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA. matt@rand.org
Journal of Health Communication
|September 16, 2011
Summary
Health literacy involves more than just reading skills. This study shows that oral and listening skills are also crucial for effective patient communication and care outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Health Communication
- Patient Outcomes
- Literacy Studies
Background:
- Limited health literacy negatively impacts patient care and outcomes.
- The Institute of Medicine recommends considering multiple literacy skills beyond reading.
- Current research often uses reading skills as a proxy for overall literacy due to a lack of evidence on other skills.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if health literacy can be represented by a single measure.
- To examine the relationship between different literacy skills: reading, numeracy, oral (speaking), and aural (listening).
- To determine the extent to which a single measure adequately captures literacy variations.
Main Methods:
- Principal component analysis was used on data from 618 individuals in Boston and Providence.
- Measures included reading, numeracy, oral (speaking), and aural (listening) literacy skills.
- The analysis aimed to identify underlying components of literacy.
Main Results:
- The first principal component, representing overall literacy, explained only 60% of the variation in literacy skills.
- A second component distinguished between numeracy/reading and oral/aural skills.
- Individuals may have varying strengths, with some having strong oral/aural skills despite moderate reading ability.
Conclusions:
- Health literacy is multidimensional and cannot be accurately represented by a single measure.
- Effective patient communication requires considering both written materials and the oral exchange.
- Healthcare providers should not rely solely on one literacy skill when communicating with patients.
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