Health literacy and health outcomes in HIV seropositive persons.
Inadequate health literacy has been associated with worse health status and more hospitalizations. We examined the influence of personal characteristics and health literacy on body change distress, depressive symptoms, and HIV symptom intensity in a convenience sample of 489 HIV-seropositive adults throughout the United States. Health literacy was measured with the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) instrument. Those with higher health literacy scores reported more body change distress, depressive symptoms, and HIV symptom intensity. Being Latino and having higher health literacy scores were associated with poorer health outcomes. These results challenge the utility of the REALM to examine the relationship between health literacy and adverse health status.
Nokes
Kathleen M
KM
Hunter College, CUNY, Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, 425 East 25 St., Box 874, New York, NY 10010, USA.
Coleman
Christopher Lance
CL
Cashen
Margaret
M
Dole
Pamela
P
Sefcik
Elizabeth
E
Hamilton
Mary Jane
MJ
Kirksey
Kenn M
KM
Huang
Emily Hai
EH
Apinya
Jumpamool
J
Holzemer
William
W
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004521:Educational Measurement; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology