Abstract
The concept of Health-Literate Healthcare Organization (HLHO) concerns the strategies by which healthcare organizations make it easier for people to navigate, understand, and use information and services to take care of their health. The aims of this study were to validate the HLHO-10 questionnaire in the Italian language; to measure the degree of implementation of the 10 attributes of HLHOs in a sample of hospitals placed in Tuscany; and to assess the association between the degree of implementation of the 10 attributes of HLHOs and the perceived quality of care. This was a cross-sectional study where data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire including three sections: a descriptive section, a section focused on the perceived quality, and the Italian version of the HLHO-10 questionnaire. A total amount of 405 healthcare managers answered the questionnaire (54.9%). The analysis shows that the HLHO score is significantly associated with the type of hospitals: accredited private hospitals have higher HLHO scores. Moreover, the perceived quality increases with the increasing of the HLHO score, with the highest coefficient for local public hospitals. In conclusion, Organizational Health Literacy culture should be an integral element for the management to improve the quality of care.
Highlights
Health literacy (HL) is a multidimensional concept which was originally developed in the 1970s [1]and has been moving from an individual to a public health perspective [2]
The aims of this study were to validate the Healthcare Organization (HLHO)-10 in the Italian language; to measure the degree of implementation of the 10 attributes of HLHOs in a sample of hospitals placed in Tuscany; and to assess the association between the degree of implementation of the 10 attributes of HLHOs and the quality of care, related to relational aspects, perceived by the healthcare managers of the sample of Tuscan hospitals
Four of them were excluded from the analysis due to an excess of missing items in the HLHO-10 questionnaire
Summary
Health literacy (HL) is a multidimensional concept which was originally developed in the 1970s [1]and has been moving from an individual to a public health perspective [2]. In one of its definitions, HL is described as the degree to which individuals can obtain, process, and understand the basic health information and services they need to make appropriate health decisions [3]. HL is increasingly recognized as a characteristic related to families, communities, and organizations providing health and social services, instead of just an individual trait [6]. For this reason, attention has shifted to the specific context in which care is provided: patients’ ability to understand medical information and. Public Health 2020, 17, 2508; doi:10.3390/ijerph17072508 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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