RCHC Community Project Abstracts

Health Literacy and Patient Knowledge of their Chronic Illness in a Rural Population with Hypertension
Date of project: 8/3/2009

Health literacy refers to the ability of an individual to obtain, process, and understand health information needed to make informed decisions about managing their health. Limited health literacy is common in the United States and is important because it is related to health knowledge, health behaviors, and health outcomes. In this project, the health literacy of a population of primary care patients with hypertension in Grants Pass, OR was assessed and then patients completed a questionnaire asking basic questions about the risks and management of this disease. The goal was to assess the level of patient knowledge regarding their chronic illness and to see if that correlated with health literacy status. Patients were found to have a good overall understanding of blood pressure goals, risks of untreated hypertension, and strategies to reduce blood pressure. Patients were least likely to understand dietary strategies to reduce blood pressure and only about one-third could correctly list all blood pressure medications they were currently using. Patient education materials regarding dietary management of hypertension were obtained for use in the clinic and several strategies for maximizing patient education were presented to the staff of the clinic. Because of homogeneity in health literacy status in the study population, associations between health literacy and patient knowledge was not possible.

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