The Relationship of Perceived Health Literacy and Vaccination Hesitancy in People with Dementia Associated Disorders

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundDementia associated disorders (DAD) refers to clinical conditions that are typically characterized by progressive cognitive impairment (CI) that interferes with an individual’s ability to function independently. In routine care CI in DAD may be poorly recognized and can vary considerably in degree and combination across multiple cognitive domains. Therefore, clinical judgement may be insufficient alone to identify CI across these varied types/degrees, and how CI may directly affect both patient quality of life and decision‐making. Patient reported outcomes (PRO) are used to survey patient perception of their disease across varied real world impact. The BRIEF Health Literacy (HL) survey (BHL), Electronic health literacy (eHealth Literacy Scale, EHL) and the psychological antecedents of vaccinations (Vaccine 5C, V5C), vaccine hesitancy, have not been explored across these areas in people with DAD (PwDAD).MethodRetrospective cross‐sectional analysis of PwDAD who completed the following PRO’s V5C, EHL, and BHL in routine care.Results146 PwDAD, average age of 72+/‐15 years. Linear regression statistics were used to analyze trends between individual V5C questions with the BHL and EHL. Significant correlations were found as follows (p<0.01): V5C‐2 (the need for vaccination)vs BHL (r = .2), V5C‐3 (everyday stress interfering with vaccination) vs BHL (r = .2), V5C‐4 (I personally weight risks/benefits of vaccination) vs BHL (r = .3), V5C‐2 vs EHL (r = .2), V5C‐3 vs EHL (r = .1), V5C‐4 vs EHL (r = .2).ConclusionLower perception health literacy ability (BHL) and lower ability to use electronic sources to gain information regarding their health literacy (EHL)in PwDAD impact decision and feelings regarding vaccination (i.e. the necessity of vaccination, stress as a barrier to vaccination, and risk‐benefit analysis respectively). Further investigation beyond perceptions to quantitative measures of CI across multiple cognitive domains (degrees/combinations) between the V5C, BHL, and EHL would prove useful in exploring these relationships and defining a path to enhance education to reduce vaccine hesitancy.