Quality of life, health status, and health service utilization related to a new measure of health literacy: FLIGHT/VIDAS

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Raymond L Ownby, Nova Southeastern University; Amarilis Acevedo, Nova Southeastern University; Robin J. Jacobs, Nova Southeastern University; Joshua Caballero, Nova Southeastern University; Drenna Waldrop-Valverde, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2014-09-01
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. If you're a copyright.com user, you can login to RightsLink using your copyright.com credentials. Already a RightsLink user or want to learn more?
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2014.05.005
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Patient Education and Counseling
• ISSN: 0738-3991
• Volume: 96
• Issue: 3
• Start Page: 404
• End Page: 410
• Grant/Funding Information: Supported by grant R01HL096578 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to Dr. Ownby.; The study described in this paper was supported by grant R01HL096578 to Dr. Ownby from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
• Keywords: Health literacy; SCORES; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; MORTALITY; Social Sciences - Other Topics; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; SKILLS; Quality of life; Social Sciences; FLIGHT/VIDAS; Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary; EQ-5D; INDEX; ADULTS; OUTCOMES; POPULATION; Science & Technology; Healthcare service utilization

Abstract

Objective: Researchers have identified significant limitations in some currently used measures of health literacy. The purpose of this paper is to present data on the relation of health-related quality of life, health status, and health service utilization to performance on a new measure of health literacy in a nonpatient population. Methods: The new measure was administered to 475 English- and Spanish-speaking community-dwelling volunteers along with existing measures of health literacy and assessments of health-related quality of life, health status, and healthcare service utilization. Relations among measures were assessed via correlations and health status and utilization was tested across levels of health literacy using ANCOVA models. Results: The new health literacy measure is significantly related to existing measures of health literacy as well as to participants' health-related quality of life. Persons with lower levels of health literacy reported more health conditions, more frequent physical symptoms, and greater healthcare service utilization. Conclusion: The new measure of health literacy is valid and shows relations to measures of conceptually related constructs such as quality of life and health behaviors. Practice implications: FLIGHT/VIDAS may be useful to researchers and clinicians interested in a computer administered and scored measure of health literacy. © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.