Health Literacy
HEALTH LITERACY: A BARRIER TO PATIENT EDUCATION
Introduction to Health Literacy: A Barrier to Patient Education
Kenneth Flancia
Francesca Garcia
Jamiel Kedtag
Karlo Valmorez
Wilson Justin Teh
BSN – 3B
Ateneo de Davao University
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study Poor health literacy is a stronger predictor of a person’s health than age, income, employment status, education level, and race. There is a high correlation between the ability to read and health literacy, but it is important to recognize that patients who are fully literate may be health illiterate (American Medical Association). Nowadays, knowledge is vital for maintaining and achieving optimum health. The concept of health literacy has come to the forefront in healthcare. 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" (Ratzen &Park, 2000). Half of our population has limited literacy skills, which affects health literacy. To determine the extent of this impact, the Institute of Medicine formed a committee to examine health literacy. As nurses we need to use this knowledge about health literacy to assist our patients in understanding their health and interacting with the healthcare system. Health literacy has three components (Baker DW (1999)).: First, literacy: a lack of capacity to read, write, communicate, or solve problems which affects the ability of an individual to gain necessary knowledge of health and health systems; Second, comprehension: a lack of capacity to understand how health and health care services are structured and operate to meet health and health care needs and how they can be accessed; and third, participation: a lack of capacity to follow a course of treatment or self-management that will improve health and wellbeing, or change behaviour to prevent disease processes starting or
Introduction to Health Literacy: A Barrier to Patient Education
Kenneth Flancia
Francesca Garcia
Jamiel Kedtag
Karlo Valmorez
Wilson Justin Teh
BSN – 3B
Ateneo de Davao University
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study Poor health literacy is a stronger predictor of a person’s health than age, income, employment status, education level, and race. There is a high correlation between the ability to read and health literacy, but it is important to recognize that patients who are fully literate may be health illiterate (American Medical Association). Nowadays, knowledge is vital for maintaining and achieving optimum health. The concept of health literacy has come to the forefront in healthcare. 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" (Ratzen &Park, 2000). Half of our population has limited literacy skills, which affects health literacy. To determine the extent of this impact, the Institute of Medicine formed a committee to examine health literacy. As nurses we need to use this knowledge about health literacy to assist our patients in understanding their health and interacting with the healthcare system. Health literacy has three components (Baker DW (1999)).: First, literacy: a lack of capacity to read, write, communicate, or solve problems which affects the ability of an individual to gain necessary knowledge of health and health systems; Second, comprehension: a lack of capacity to understand how health and health care services are structured and operate to meet health and health care needs and how they can be accessed; and third, participation: a lack of capacity to follow a course of treatment or self-management that will improve health and wellbeing, or change behaviour to prevent disease processes starting or