Actual and perceived patient health literacy: How accurate are residents' predictions?

Abstract

Health literacy has repeatedly been shown to be associated with a multitude of negative health outcomes. Previous research has shown that patient health literacy levels are hard to predict by physicians and that assessment tools used to measure health literacy may be outdated or lacking. The purpose of this study is to replicate and extend the findings of previous research by examining residents’ ability to predict health literacy levels in patients and to use a newer validated measure of health literacy. A total of 38 patient encounters were included in this study. Patients were administered the Health Literacy Skills Instrument-Short Form to assess health literacy levels. Twenty resident physicians conducted visits with study participants and were asked to predict the health literacy of their patients. Results indicated that, consistent with previous research, residents’ predictions of patient health literacy were not consistent with patient health literacy levels as measured by the Health Literacy Skills Instrument-Short Form. Implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.