Bindhu S, Nattam A, Xu C, Vithala T, Grant T, Dariotis JK, Liu H, Wu DTY. Roles of Health Literacy in Relation to Social Determinants of Health and Recommendations for Informatics-Based Interventions: Systematic Review.
Online J Public Health Inform 2024;
16:e50898. [PMID:
38506914 PMCID:
PMC10993137 DOI:
10.2196/50898]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2023] [Revised: 01/28/2024] [Accepted: 01/31/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Health literacy (HL) is the ability to make informed decisions using health information. As health data and information availability increase due to online clinic notes and patient portals, it is important to understand how HL relates to social determinants of health (SDoH) and the place of informatics in mitigating disparities.
OBJECTIVE
This systematic literature review aims to examine the role of HL in interactions with SDoH and to identify feasible HL-based interventions that address low patient understanding of health information to improve clinic note-sharing efficacy.
METHODS
The review examined 2 databases, Scopus and PubMed, for English-language articles relating to HL and SDoH. We conducted a quantitative analysis of study characteristics and qualitative synthesis to determine the roles of HL and interventions.
RESULTS
The results (n=43) were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively for study characteristics, the role of HL, and interventions. Most articles (n=23) noted that HL was a result of SDoH, but other articles noted that it could also be a mediator for SdoH (n=6) or a modifiable SdoH (n=14) itself.
CONCLUSIONS
The multivariable nature of HL indicates that it could form the basis for many interventions to combat low patient understandability, including 4 interventions using informatics-based solutions. HL is a crucial, multidimensional skill in supporting patient understanding of health materials. Designing interventions aimed at improving HL or addressing poor HL in patients can help increase comprehension of health information, including the information contained in clinic notes shared with patients.
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