Antecedents And Consequences: A Case Study

Results: The findings confirm that health literacy and empowerment are independent concepts. The participants having a high level of patient empowerment and concurrent adequate health literacy reported the best health status. By contrast, the highly empowered respondents

Health literacy has been demarcated as the measurement of the individual’s capacity to obtain, understand and process simple health information. It is needed to make satisfactory health decisions and determine services needed to treat or prevent illness. Health literacy requires knowledge from many topics, comprising the patient’s own body, appropriate conducts towards healthy results and the difficulties to understand the health system. It is influenced by many conditions such as our communication skills, age, socio-economic status, and cultural background, past experiences, educational level and mental health status (U.S. Department of

Health literacy is both a consumer and public healthcare issue. As a health care provider, it is not only my responsibility to ensure that you understand your health and what is going on

Health literacy has been a problem with our patients. The most vulnerable populations are the elderly, people with low-income levels, those with limited education, non-native speakers of English, those with chronic mental and physical health conditions, minority, and immigrant populations. Nurses have a great role in helping our patients succeed in understanding their health conditions. Nurses can be of great help in promoting health literacy. Sykes, Wills, Rowlands and Popple (2013) defined health literacy as the ability of individuals to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information. The three domains of health literacy, according to Bennett and Perkins (2012) as adapted from the (WHO) (1998) are functional health literacy, interactive literacy, and critical health literacy. Functional health literacy is basic reading and writing skills to be able to function effectively in a health context. Interactive health literacy is the used of more advanced cognitive and literacy skills to participate in health care. Critical health literacy is the ability to analyze critically and to use information to participate in action, to overcome structural barriers to health (p.14). The U.S. Department of Education published the findings of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy conducted in 2003. The result showed that 36 % of adults have basic or below-basic skills for dealing with health material, 52 %

Health literacy: ?The capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions? (Tamura-Lis, 2013, p.267)

Low health literacy has negative health outcomes for many individuals impacted by the unattained health information and teaching that has not been established. Many low literacy individuals do not seek needed treatment due to the cost, unfamiliar location, and the foreign procedures that may occur. Individuals that suffer from low literacy are more prone to the development of chronic disease like diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure.

The problems associated with the health literacy have been identified by the researchers in the last ten years. They came to know the role played by it in the medical as well as the individual self care by the comprehension of information related to health and the outcomes related to it (Carolyn Speros, 2004).

Only 15-40 % of the population in the U.S. are health literate (Kirk et al. 2012) and 14% of the total adult population have below basic/functional literacy. Of the total adult population with basic health literacy skills, 14 % of the population are men and 16% of the population are

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2008). America's Health Literacy: Why We Need Accessible Health Information. Retrieved from https://health.gov/communication/literacy/issuebrief/

A big problem today in health care for many people is health literacy. Health literacy is when a person is able to understand and process medical information they are given. Having low health literacy can affect how a person understands, and uses information about their health and health services (Batterham 2016). Low health literacy rates lead to big issues in communication. Limited literacy impacts health behaviors, decisions, and ultimately outcomes. Many people have low health literacy which leads to bad health outcomes. Research shows that low literacy is linked with the lower likelihood of people being able to manage their own health conditions, and less access to health care services which can lead to poor health outcomes. There are many reasons people have low health literacy, A lack of formal education and poor reading ability aren't the only causes of low health literacy. Low health literacy is associated with a number of things like poor engagement in health services, health knowledge, and overall health status. People with low health literacy may feel ashamed and try to hide it from professionals and family members. Most health care professionals are unaware of the level of health literacy their patient has. (Greenhalgh 2015) There is a need to identify individual health literacy needs and address how to work on solutions to benefit them and whole groups of people. Differences in health literacy

“Health Literacy” a term to define literacy in healthcare. “An estimated 90 million people in the U.S. have difficulties understanding and using health information” (Hawkins, Kantayya and Sharkey-Asner, 2010). Low health literacy poses public health risks due to groups of people not being able to adequately care for themselves and stay healthy. This paper argues the importance of literacy as it pertains to health and also explores the various types of literacy that can impact how health information is received and understood from the general public.

Only about 12 percent of adults have Proficient health literacy. A health literate individual is able and should be determined to spread this skill to others around them and to their community, country, and nation. This skill could very well prevent many people from becoming sick and unhealthy. Adults should use their sense of health literacy to influence their children, friends, and relatives to develop healthy habits and prevent unhealthy ones. This is a good skill to have when you need it. You never know when you may come across a health problem. Health literacy can help everyone keep a good balance of health and

Health literacy assessment should be performed with care and sensitivity, because the social implications of identifying a patient as being of low health literacy could be counterproductive. Currently, supported literacy assessments are often time-intensive and logistically challenging, with most requiring in-person administration. So the tools need to be clear and concise, user friendly and less time consuming. There is currently no commonly used tool that measures this knowledge. However, recent Australian research has been undertaken on the development of tools and conceptual frameworks that may better reflect the overall individual health literacy of a person, as well as their broader social and environmental contexts. These tools include

Literacy is not just the ability to read a book or write your own name, it is a more complex problem that an astounding part of the American population faces. According to the National Adult Literacy Survey of 1993 (NALS), which measures literacy levels in three ways: prose literacy, document literacy, and quantitative literacy, 27 percent of people that took this literacy test have a level 2 literacy level; on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being literate (Perez & Luquis, 2014). Consequently, these levels indicate less than a seventh grade education. Today’s information and technological society proves daunting for even the most literate of people who face problems dealing with our health care system. Providing critical