The Article in Brief

Screening Questions to Predict Limited Health Literacy: A Cross-Sectional Study of Patients With Diabetes Mellitus

Kelly Marvin Jeppesen , and colleagues

Background Health literacy, or the ability to obtain and understand health information, is related to one's health and ability to manage medical conditions. Knowing what questions to ask about a patient's learning styles could help clinicians personalize health education for their patients. The purpose of this study is to determine questions and patient characteristics that indicate that a patient may have low health literacy.

What This Study Found Researchers identify 5 screening questions and demographic characteristics that predict whether a patient has limited health literacy: (1) self-rated reading ability, (2) the result of the Single-Item Literacy Screener (a 1-question test that asks, "How often do you need to have someone help you when you read instructions, pamphlets, or other written material from your doctor or pharmacy?"), (3) highest education level attained, (4) sex, and (5) race.

Implications

• The authors suggest that clinicians ask questions to identify patients who may need assistance with navigating the health care system or understanding health-related materials.
• Asking patients about self-rated reading ability and their highest educational level and the Single-Item Literacy Screener can help in developing strategies to assist patients with low health literacy levels.