221580 Health literacy and cultural competence training in primary care: A pilot project

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Meredith C. Masel, PhD, LMSW , Center to Eliminate Health Disparities, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX
BACKGROUND: Recently, the Health Research and Services Administration launched an online training tool titled Unified Health Communication (UHC) for health care providers to improve their patient communication based on their patients' language, cultural associations, and health literacy proficiency. Current estimates of US health literacy indicate that less than 20% of the population is considered “proficient”. INTERVENTION: In order to address the relationship between health literacy and health outcomes, providers may improve treatment by learning about health literacy. The UHC has not been tested for clinical efficacy, translation to health outcomes of patients, or implementation issues. Despite this, the American Board of Family Medicine is considering the training as a requirement for board certification. National priorities value the ideas behind the intervention, but without the proper research, the tool cannot be publicized or shared effectively. METHODS: Using the bench-to-bedside paradigm, the current research will present the results of a pilot test (Phase 1) of the UHC course among Family and Internal Medicine Residents at an Academic Health Science Center with a large underserved population. RESULTS: The preliminary data are being collected and analyzed to evaluate providers' views on the importance of health literacy in their patient encounters, the usefulness of the training, and to justify a Phase II trial of the UHC with hopes to rapidly circulate on a large scale. The session will provide fully analyzed data on this randomized pilot trial, and plans for continued testing within the parameters of the “3 T's Roadmap to Transform US Health Care.”

Learning Areas:
Communication and informatics
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Provision of health care to the public

Learning Objectives:
Compare knowledge and attitides about health literacy and cultural competence among internal and family medicine residents who were randomly assigned to a health literacy and cultural competence training module or no training. Demonstrate the potential for a phase II trial of the effect health literacy and cultural competence training on physician job satisfaction and patient outcomes.

Keywords: Health Literacy, Intervention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the primary investigator.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.