Asthma numeracy skill and health literacy.
To assess understanding of numerical concepts in asthma self-management instructions, a 4-item Asthma Numeracy Questionnaire (ANQ) was developed and read to 73 adults with persistent asthma. Participants completed the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (STOFHLA), 12(16%) answered all 4 numeracy items correctly; 6(8%) answered none correctly. Participants were least likely to understand items involving risk and percentages. Low numeracy but not STOFHLA score was associated with a history of hospitalization for asthma. At higher STOFHLA levels there was a wide range of the total number of correct numeracy responses. Numeracy is a unique and important component of health literacy.
Apter
Andrea J
AJ
Division of Pulmonary, Allergy Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. apter@mail.med.upenn.edu
Cheng
Jing
J
Small
Dylan
D
Bennett
Ian M
IM
Albert
Claire
C
Fein
Daniel G
DG
George
Maureen
M
Van Horne
Simone
S
D001249:Asthma / Q000523:psychology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008875:Middle Aged; D012648:Self Care; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires