Assessing health literacy levels in family medicine clinics

Inadequate health literacy has a significant impact on a patient's ability to interact with their health care provider and manage their health. Patients with limited health literacy have less knowledge about their health conditions, higher hospitalization rates, higher health care costs and worse health status than people with adequate literacy. Among diabetics, health literacy has also been associated with poorer knowledge of the disease and increased rates of complications. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the health literacy levels of adult patients visiting 2 family medicine clinics in Dallas, TX and determine the association between health literacy level, health information access, diagnosis of diabetes and sociodemographic (SES) characteristics. Participants will be asked to complete (1) a health information questionnaire addressing sociodemographic characteristics, internet access and utilization for health, health information and (2) the “Newest Vital Sign,” a validated tool (English and Spanish) assessing health literacy. Among diabetics, we expect to find low health literacy levels when compared to non-diabetics. We expect to find a positive correlation between low health literacy and lack of internet utilization for health information. We also anticipate to find a positive association between low socioeconomic status and low health literacy. A more adequate understanding of health literacy levels will help in developing effective interventions to improve diabetic patients' care.