Understanding Barriers to Literacy Promotion Among New Jersey General Pediatricians

Low literacy is associated with poor health. We sought to examine pediatricians' attitudes and practices regarding literacy promotion in early childhood. We distributed a self-administered 23-item survey to a random sample of 500 board certified or eligible New Jersey primary care pediatricians. 134 surveys were returned, 25 of which were excluded. In all, 91% of pediatricians in our sample agreed that literacy promotion was an essential aspect of practice, and two-thirds agreed that they conduct activities to promote literacy. A total of 77% of pediatricians who completed their training ≤20 years ago agreed that they were adequately trained to promote literacy compared with 58% who completed their training >20 years ago ( P = .04). Physicians reported several barriers including time constraints and insufficient funding. While most pediatricians in our sample support literacy promotion, less conducted activities in practice. Further study is needed to understand how to facilitate implementation of literacy promotion guidelines.