Health literacy and fever management in a community based intervention

Lack of knowledge of fever management in children is a primary reason parents seek medical attention through emergency room visits, with low literate parents being especially at-risk. An estimated 90 million American adults are low literate and have difficulty understanding and acting upon health information. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a fever management intervention for low literate caregivers of young children. A prospective, repeated measures intervention design was utilized to examine the effectiveness of an educational program for caregivers identified as having low literacy skills. Eighty-three parents or grandparents were enrolled in the study. Forty-six percent were Caucasian, and 44% African-American, with the mean child's age of 4.7 years. Participants were tested for literacy levels and fever management knowledge, attended a class demonstrating the intervention which measured the effectiveness of a caregiver's ability to assess, communicate and treat a child's fever. Data was analyzed over three evaluation periods regarding changes in health literacy scores and fever management knowledge using repeated measures analysis of variance. Participants reported significantly higher knowledge scores related to fever management following the class and throughout the study. Those with the lowest literacy scores at baseline demonstrated the greatest increase in literacy at three months. In conclusion, parents identified as low health literate benefit from classes that teach them how to assess their child's fever and communicate with health professionals in order to better manage their child when fever occurs.