Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #115437

Robert Pollard, PhD, Dept of Psychiatry, University of Rochester, 300 Crittenden Blvd., Rochester, NY 14642, 585 275 3544, Robert_Pollard@urmc.rochester.edu and Steven Barnett, MD, Family Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine, 1381 South Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620.

Health literacy is receiving increasing attention by researchers and policy makers. Beyond reading and writing, the term encompasses the entirety of skills and knowledge consumers bring to bear to participate effectively in optimizing health and treating and preventing disease. Many Americans experience diminished capacity for health literacy, a problem contributing to health disparities in minority populations in particular. Among the highest risk of these minority populations is the deaf population. Compromised English literacy, limited access to sign language interpreters in healthcare settings, constrained exposure to health information (e.g., via radio, TV, overheard conversations, published media, and families who generally do not learn sign language) arguably conspires to severely limit health literacy in this population. There is no published research on this topic. The presenter conducted a preliminary study on health literacy involving a sample of 61 deaf adults, employing a modified version of the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM). A small number of modified REALM responses from self-defined “hard-of-hearing” and hearing individuals also were gathered. Results showed that 29% of deaf respondents earned REALM scores at or below levels typical of hearing middle schoolers whereas 1% and 0% of the hard-of-hearing and hearing samples (respectively) scored that low. Indications that this was a more highly educated deaf sample than is typical of the population were especially concerning. The study methodology will be described, including the nature of the REALM modification, and a discussion of the results embedded in a wider perspective on deaf health literacy issues.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn the definition of health literacy.
• Learn the relevance of health literacy to health promotion, disease treatment, and disease prevention.
• Learn how the deaf population experiences particular risks pertaining to health literacy.
• Learn how a preliminary study approached and documented health literacy limitations in a deaf participant sample.
• Participate in discussion of future research and public policy initiatives regarding health literacy in the deaf population.

Keywords: Health Literacy, Deaf

Related Web page: www.urmc.rochester.edu/dwc

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation