Health literacy and its association with the use of information sources and with barriers to information seeking in clinic-based pregnant women.
We investigated health literacy and its association with the use of information sources and with barriers to information seeking in clinic-based pregnant women. The Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (STOFHLA) was used to measure health literacy in 143 English-speaking low-income pregnant women. About 15% of the participants demonstrated low health literacy. Participants with low health literacy were less likely to use the Internet and more likely to have self-efficacy barriers than participants with high health literacy. Interventions to promote information-seeking skills and Internet access are indicated for women with low health literacy.
Shieh
Carol
C
Department of Environments for Health, Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis, Indiana 46077, USA. wshieh@iupui.edu
Mays
Rose
R
McDaniel
Anna
A
Yu
Jennifer
J
D000328:Adult; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003144:Communication Barriers; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D057220:Health Literacy; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011203:Poverty; D011247:Pregnancy; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult