Measuring health literacy in caregivers of children: a comparison of the newest vital sign and S-TOFHLA. Clin Pediatr (Phila) 2014 Nov;53(13):1264-70
Date
07/10/2014Pubmed ID
25006116Pubmed Central ID
PMC4416472DOI
10.1177/0009922814541674Scopus ID
2-s2.0-84909636134 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 36 CitationsAbstract
OBJECTIVE: We examined the performance of the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) and the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA) in caregivers of children.
METHOD: Caregivers of children ≤12 years old seeking care for their child in a pediatric emergency department (ED) were tested using the NVS and the S-TOFHLA to measure health literacy. The results were compared with ED use outcomes.
RESULT: The S-TOFHLA was found to have a ceiling effect as compared to the NVS; few caregivers scored in low literacy categories (P < .0001). This finding was demonstrated in both lower (P = .01) and higher (P < .001) educational attainment groups. The NVS was predictive of ED use outcomes (P = .02 and P < .01) whereas the S-TOFHLA was not (P = .21 and P = .11).
CONCLUSIONS: The measures do not seem to function similarly nor predict health outcomes equally. The NVS demonstrates sensitivity in identifying limited health literacy in younger adult populations.
Author List
Morrison AK, Schapira MM, Hoffmann RG, Brousseau DCMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdultCaregivers
Child
Child, Preschool
Cross-Sectional Studies
Educational Measurement
Female
Health Literacy
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
United States
