General practitioners’ predictions of their own patients’ health literacy: a cross-sectional study in Belgium
Objectives To support patients in their disease management, providing information that is adjusted to patients’ knowledge and ability to process health information (ie, health literacy) is crucial. To ensure effective health communication, general practitioners (GPs) should be able to identify peopl...
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BMJ Publishing Group
2019-09-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/9/e029357.full |
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| author | Hannelore Storms Frank Vandenabeele Neree Claes |
| author_facet | Hannelore Storms Frank Vandenabeele Neree Claes |
| author_sort | Hannelore Storms |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objectives To support patients in their disease management, providing information that is adjusted to patients’ knowledge and ability to process health information (ie, health literacy) is crucial. To ensure effective health communication, general practitioners (GPs) should be able to identify people with limited health literacy. To this end, (dis)agreement between patients’ health literacy and GPs’ estimations thereof was examined. Also, characteristics impacting health literacy (dis)agreement were studied.Design Cross-sectional survey of general practice patients and GPs undertaken in 2016–17.Setting Forty-one general practices in two Dutch-speaking provinces in Belgium.Participants Patients (18 years of age and older) visiting general practices. Patients were excluded when having severe impairments (physical, mental, sensory).Main outcome measures Patients’ health literacy was assessed with 16-item European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire. GPs indicated estimations on patients’ health literacy using a simple scale (inadequate; problematic; adequate). (Dis)agreement between patients’ health literacy and GPs’ estimations thereof (GPs’ estimations being equal to/higher/lower than patients’ health literacy) was measured using Kappa statistics. The impact of patient and GP characteristics, including duration of GP–patient relationships, on this (dis)agreement was examined using generalised linear logit model.Results Health literacy of patients (n=1375) was inadequate (n=201; 14.6%), problematic (n=299; 21.7%), adequate (n=875; 63.6%). GPs overestimated the proportion patients with adequate health literacy: adequate (n=1241; 90.3%), problematic (n=130; 9.5%) and inadequate (n=4; 0.3%). Overall, GPs’ correct; over-/underestimations of health literacy occurred for, respectively, 60.9%; 34.2%; 4.9% patients, resulting in a slight agreement (κ=0.033). The likelihood for GPs to over-/underestimate patients’ health literacy increases with decreasing educational level of patients; and decreasing number of years patients have been consulting with their GP.Conclusions Intuitively assessing health literacy is difficult. Patients’ education, the duration of GP–patient relationships and GPs’ gender impact GPs’ perceptions of patients’ health literacy. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-683924e3bd7c4e4ba1049474f630b4cb |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-09-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-683924e3bd7c4e4ba1049474f630b4cb2025-08-20T02:49:05ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552019-09-019910.1136/bmjopen-2019-029357General practitioners’ predictions of their own patients’ health literacy: a cross-sectional study in BelgiumHannelore Storms0Frank Vandenabeele1Neree Claes21 Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, BelgiumFaculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, REVAL-Rehabilitation Research Center, UHasselt, Hasselt, Belgium1 Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Hasselt, BelgiumObjectives To support patients in their disease management, providing information that is adjusted to patients’ knowledge and ability to process health information (ie, health literacy) is crucial. To ensure effective health communication, general practitioners (GPs) should be able to identify people with limited health literacy. To this end, (dis)agreement between patients’ health literacy and GPs’ estimations thereof was examined. Also, characteristics impacting health literacy (dis)agreement were studied.Design Cross-sectional survey of general practice patients and GPs undertaken in 2016–17.Setting Forty-one general practices in two Dutch-speaking provinces in Belgium.Participants Patients (18 years of age and older) visiting general practices. Patients were excluded when having severe impairments (physical, mental, sensory).Main outcome measures Patients’ health literacy was assessed with 16-item European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire. GPs indicated estimations on patients’ health literacy using a simple scale (inadequate; problematic; adequate). (Dis)agreement between patients’ health literacy and GPs’ estimations thereof (GPs’ estimations being equal to/higher/lower than patients’ health literacy) was measured using Kappa statistics. The impact of patient and GP characteristics, including duration of GP–patient relationships, on this (dis)agreement was examined using generalised linear logit model.Results Health literacy of patients (n=1375) was inadequate (n=201; 14.6%), problematic (n=299; 21.7%), adequate (n=875; 63.6%). GPs overestimated the proportion patients with adequate health literacy: adequate (n=1241; 90.3%), problematic (n=130; 9.5%) and inadequate (n=4; 0.3%). Overall, GPs’ correct; over-/underestimations of health literacy occurred for, respectively, 60.9%; 34.2%; 4.9% patients, resulting in a slight agreement (κ=0.033). The likelihood for GPs to over-/underestimate patients’ health literacy increases with decreasing educational level of patients; and decreasing number of years patients have been consulting with their GP.Conclusions Intuitively assessing health literacy is difficult. Patients’ education, the duration of GP–patient relationships and GPs’ gender impact GPs’ perceptions of patients’ health literacy.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/9/e029357.full |
| spellingShingle | Hannelore Storms Frank Vandenabeele Neree Claes General practitioners’ predictions of their own patients’ health literacy: a cross-sectional study in Belgium BMJ Open |
| title | General practitioners’ predictions of their own patients’ health literacy: a cross-sectional study in Belgium |
| title_full | General practitioners’ predictions of their own patients’ health literacy: a cross-sectional study in Belgium |
| title_fullStr | General practitioners’ predictions of their own patients’ health literacy: a cross-sectional study in Belgium |
| title_full_unstemmed | General practitioners’ predictions of their own patients’ health literacy: a cross-sectional study in Belgium |
| title_short | General practitioners’ predictions of their own patients’ health literacy: a cross-sectional study in Belgium |
| title_sort | general practitioners predictions of their own patients health literacy a cross sectional study in belgium |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/9/e029357.full |
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