英文摘要 |
Objetives. Health literacy is the ability to read and understand written materials commonly encountered in health care settings. In this study, we assessed health literacy level and analyzed factors related to health literacy scores in adults with chronic diseases. Methods. In this cross-sectional study, we administered structural questionnaires to collect information from 600 adult patients with chronic diseases from January 2008 to December 2008. Health literacy was assessed using the traditional Chinese version of short test of functional health literacy in adults(S-TOFHLA). Results. The instrument had a content validity 90.7 and a Cronbach's a of 0.975.The overall average functional health literacy score was 56±35. About 40% of our subjects had inadequate literacy levels. We found significant differences in functional health literacy scores across age groups, education strata, and annul family income (all p<0.001). Conclusions. The validity and reliability of the traditional Chinese version of S-TOFHLA was acceptable. Elderly patients had lower health literacy scores. The more years of education, the higher the literacy scores. |