273145 Health literacy with respect to spoken information and the medical encounter

Monday, October 29, 2012 : 1:30 PM - 1:45 PM

Kathleen Mazor, EdD , Meyers Primary Care Institute, Worcester, MA
A growing body of literature documents the relationship between health literacy and important health behaviors and outcomes. Most research to date has focused on print literacy – few studies have examined literacy with respect to spoken information. This is problematic because most physician-patient communication is oral. We investigated the extent to which adults' oral health literacy was related to responses to physician consultation in simulated clinical encounters addressing cancer prevention and screening. A total of 438 adults from Georgia, Hawaii and Massachusetts participated; listening to 3 simulated physician-patient discussions on cancer prevention/screening. Post-vignette items assessed understanding and reactions to the physician's advice. Participants had previously completed a test of oral health literacy (the Cancer Message Literacy Test-Listening). Results examined the relationship between comprehension, behavioral intentions and oral health literacy. Post-vignette comprehension scores correlated with oral health literacy scores. Higher health literacy participants were more likely to report their views on PSA testing had become less favorable as a result of the vignette and expressed less intent to undergo PSA testing. Higher health literacy participants also expressed less intent to take tamoxifen for chemoprevention. With respect to colonoscopy for colorectal cancer screening, mean health literacy scores for those who would and would not have a colonoscopy were not different, but those who were undecided had lower scores. These findings suggest that oral health literacy influences patients' comprehension of spoken health information provided by a physician, and their intentions regarding cancer prevention and screening. Oral health literacy may thereby contribute to health disparities.

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention
Clinical medicine applied in public health
Communication and informatics
Provision of health care to the public

Learning Objectives:
Define oral health literacy. Identify ways in which weaknesses in oral literacy may mitigate effective physician-patient communication. Describe ways by which limited oral literacy may affect decision making and the implications of such effects on health outcomes.

Keywords: Health Literacy, Patient Education

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I currently lead a multi-site, NCI funded study of health literacy and cancer prevention; I have over 90 peer reviewed manuscripts to my credit, including several related to health literacy and/or communication. I am currently an Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts.
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.