Amid increased concerns about the adverse consequences of low health literacy, it remains unclear how health literacy affects health status and health service utilization. With a sample of 489 elderly Medicare patients in a Midwestern city in the USA, we explored the intermediate factors that may link health literacy to health status and utilization of health services such as hospitalization and emergency care. We expected to find that individuals with higher health literacy would have better health status and less frequent use of emergency room and hospital services due to (1) greater disease knowledge, (2) healthier behaviors, (3) greater use of preventive care, and (4) a higher degree of compliance with medication. Using path analysis, we found, however, that health literacy had direct effects on health outcomes and that none of these variables of interest was a significant intermediate factor through which health literacy affected use of hospital services. Our findings suggest that improving health literacy may be an effective strategy to improve health status and to reduce the use of expensive hospital and emergency room services among elderly patients.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.01.003 | DOI Listing |
Z Evid Fortbild Qual Gesundhwes
January 2025
Department of Prevention and Evaluation, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS, Bremen, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health Bremen (LSC DiPH), Bremen, Germany; Faculty of Human and Health Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
Introduction: The increasing digitalization of the healthcare system makes it possible to provide medical services using digital technologies without direct patient-provider contact. This study aimed to investigate 1) the use and acceptance of video consultation and 2) factors associated with the use of video consultation.
Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in February 2023.
Pain Manag Nurs
January 2025
Faculty of Nursing, Al Al-Bayt University, Mafraq, Jordan.
Purpose: This study aimed to investigate pain characteristics, opioid misuse prevalence, and the relationship between healthliteracy and pain catastrophising in patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD).
Design: This was a cross-sectional study.
Methods: Data were collected from patients with SCD in Oman.
Child Abuse Negl
January 2025
Department of Psychology, Institute of Special Environmental Medicine, Nantong University, 9 Seyuan Road, Nantong 226019, Jiangsu Province, China.
Objectives: In recent years, juvenile delinquency has continued to occur at a high rate, necessitating attention to its criminal psychological process and underlying risk factors.
Methods: This study acquired psychological review data from 97 juvenile delinquents in China. Utilizing qualitative analysis, we delved into the psychological processes and risk factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency, aiming to reveal the psychological mechanisms involved.
JMIR Hum Factors
January 2025
Institute of General Practice, Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Background: The internet is a key source of health information, but the quality of content from popular search engines varies, posing challenges for users-especially those with low health or digital health literacy. To address this, the "tala-med" search engine was developed in 2020 to provide access to high-quality, evidence-based content. It prioritizes German health websites based on trustworthiness, recency, user-friendliness, and comprehensibility, offering category-based filters while ensuring privacy by avoiding data collection and advertisements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Med Internet Res
January 2025
Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States.
Background: Readability is important to consider when developing informed consent communications for prospective research participants, but not the most important consideration. Other factors to consider relate to learning preferences and literacy needs of people recruited to participate in research, as these factors can influence understanding of consent communications. To promote understanding among prospective participants, researchers should take a human-centered approach to develop consent communications.
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