The METER: a brief, self-administered measure of health literacy.
BACKGROUND
Given rapidly accumulating evidence that health literacy is correlated with important health-related measures, assessing patients' health literacy level is of increasing concern for researchers and practitioners. Practical limitations for use of existing health literacy measures include length of time and practitioner involvement in administration.


OBJECTIVE
To develop and validate a brief, self-administered measure of health literacy, the Medical Term Recognition Test (METER).


METHODS
155 participants were recruited from an outpatient cardiology program at an urban hospital.


METHODS
Patients completed measures of health literacy (METER and REALM), neuropsychological function, psychosocial health, and self-report questionnaires about health behaviors. Indicators of cardiovascular health were also recorded from patients' medical charts.


RESULTS
The measure took 2 min to complete. The internal consistency of the METER was 0.93, and it correlated highly with REALM (r = 0.74). Regarding sensitivity and specificity for identifying individuals below REALM's cutoff for functional literacy, METER resulted in 75% correct identifications and 8% false positives. METER and REALM were both associated with various health-related measures (including significant correlations with measures of neuropsychological function and cardiovascular health).


CONCLUSIONS
These initial findings show that the METER is a quick and practical measure of health literacy for use in clinical settings.
Rawson
Katherine A
KA
Department of Psychology, Kent State University, P.O. Box 5190, Kent, OH, 44242-0001, USA. krawson1@kent.edu
Gunstad
John
J
Hughes
Joel
J
Spitznagel
Mary Beth
MB
Potter
Vanessa
V
Waechter
Donna
D
Rosneck
James
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D013997:Time Factors