Impact of health literacy on seeking mental health treatment: Results from a critical literature review

There is a paucity of research exploring the relationship between limited literacy and treatment for mental illness despite the fact that both are prevalent problems in the United States and have significant individual and social consequences. In fact, many mental health education and outreach campaigns rely on printed material to encourage people to recognize potential symptoms of mental illness, and to seek treatment. This can be problematic for those with low literacy skills who are also experiencing serious psychological distress. This presentation provides a review of the literature on the relationship between health literacy and mental illness to summarize and analyze the current knowledge base, and to identify areas where additional research is needed. Specifically this study will address: 1) Whether health literacy rates among those with symptoms of mental illness are similar to those seen in the general population? 2) What effect, if any, does low health literacy have on treatment seeking behaviors for people with psychological distress? 3) What areas of research should be pursued to illuminate the relationship between mental illness and health literacy? Policy implications will be discussed, such as encouraging development of lower-literacy mental illness educational materials, and training health professionals to take consumer literacy needs into account.