BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: Today's complex healthcare system relies heavily on sophisticated self-care regimens. To navigate the system and follow self-care protocols, patients must be able to understand and use health information, which requires health literacy. However, nearly 90 million Americans lack the necessary health literacy skills to adequately care for themselves in the face of a complex healthcare system and self-care regimens. Understanding how to effectively care for one's self is thought to improve heart failure symptoms and patient outcomes, but little is actually known about how health literacy influences self-care in patients with heart failure. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the relationship between health literacy and self-care of patients with heart failure. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Patients with a diagnosis of heart failure were recruited from a variety of community settings. Participants completed the Short-Form Test of Functional Health Literacy (measured health literacy), the Self-care Index of Heart Failure (measured self-care maintenance, management, and confidence), and a demographic questionnaire. Spearman ρ correlations were used to assess the strength of the relationship between health literacy level and self-care scores. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Among the 49 participants recruited, health literacy was positively related to self-care maintenance (Rs = 0.357, P = .006). Health literacy had a negative relationship with self-care management (Rs = -0.573, P = .001). There was no association between health literacy and self-care confidence (Rs = 0.201, P = .083). This project provides preliminary data regarding the association between health literacy and self-care in heart failure, showing support for higher health-literate patients performing more self-care maintenance, which has been shown to improve patient outcomes in heart failure. Patients with higher health literacy trended toward having greater self-care confidence, which can increase the likelihood of performing self-care, but this finding was not statistically significant. It was unexpected to find that lower health-literate patients performed more self-care management.
BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: Today's complex healthcare system relies heavily on sophisticated self-care regimens. To navigate the system and follow self-care protocols, patients must be able to understand and use health information, which requires health literacy. However, nearly 90 million Americans lack the necessary health literacy skills to adequately care for themselves in the face of a complex healthcare system and self-care regimens. Understanding how to effectively care for one's self is thought to improve heart failure symptoms and patient outcomes, but little is actually known about how health literacy influences self-care in patients with heart failure. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the relationship between health literacy and self-care of patients with heart failure. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Patients with a diagnosis of heart failure were recruited from a variety of community settings. Participants completed the Short-Form Test of Functional Health Literacy (measured health literacy), the Self-care Index of Heart Failure (measured self-care maintenance, management, and confidence), and a demographic questionnaire. Spearman ρ correlations were used to assess the strength of the relationship between health literacy level and self-care scores. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Among the 49 participants recruited, health literacy was positively related to self-care maintenance (Rs = 0.357, P = .006). Health literacy had a negative relationship with self-care management (Rs = -0.573, P = .001). There was no association between health literacy and self-care confidence (Rs = 0.201, P = .083). This project provides preliminary data regarding the association between health literacy and self-care in heart failure, showing support for higher health-literate patients performing more self-care maintenance, which has been shown to improve patient outcomes in heart failure. Patients with higher health literacy trended toward having greater self-care confidence, which can increase the likelihood of performing self-care, but this finding was not statistically significant. It was unexpected to find that lower health-literate patients performed more self-care management.
Authors: Dean Schillinger; Kevin Grumbach; John Piette; Frances Wang; Dennis Osmond; Carolyn Daher; Jorge Palacios; Gabriela Diaz Sullivan; Andrew B Bindman Journal: JAMA Date: 2002 Jul 24-31 Impact factor: 56.272
Authors: Darren A DeWalt; Michael Pignone; Robb Malone; Cathy Rawls; Margaret C Kosnar; Geeta George; Betsy Bryant; Russell L Rothman; Bonnie Angel Journal: Patient Educ Couns Date: 2004-10
Authors: Barbara Riegel; Beverly Carlson; Debra K Moser; Marge Sebern; Frank D Hicks; Virginia Roland Journal: J Card Fail Date: 2004-08 Impact factor: 5.712
Authors: Aleda M H Chen; Karen S Yehle; Nancy M Albert; Kenneth F Ferraro; Holly L Mason; Matthew M Murawski; Kimberly S Plake Journal: Res Social Adm Pharm Date: 2013-08-13
Authors: Carlos H Martinez; Swetha Raparla; Craig A Plauschinat; Nicholas D Giardino; Barbara Rogers; Julien Beresford; Judith D Bentkover; Amy Schachtner-Appel; Jeffrey L Curtis; Fernando J Martinez; MeiLan K Han Journal: J Womens Health (Larchmt) Date: 2012-12 Impact factor: 2.681
Authors: Michael L Alosco; Mary Beth Spitznagel; Lindsay Miller; Naftali Raz; Ronald Cohen; Lawrence H Sweet; Lisa H Colbert; Richard Josephson; Donna Waechter; Joel Hughes; Jim Rosneck; John Gunstad Journal: Health Psychol Date: 2012-08-27 Impact factor: 4.267
Authors: Tyler A Kuhn; Emily C Gathright; Mary A Dolansky; John Gunstad; Richard Josephson; Joel W Hughes Journal: J Cardiovasc Nurs Date: 2022 Jan-Feb 01 Impact factor: 2.083
Authors: Jared W Magnani; Mahasin S Mujahid; Herbert D Aronow; Crystal W Cené; Victoria Vaughan Dickson; Edward Havranek; Lewis B Morgenstern; Michael K Paasche-Orlow; Amy Pollak; Joshua Z Willey Journal: Circulation Date: 2018-06-04 Impact factor: 29.690