title: Development and testing of a disease-specific health literacy measure in kidney transplant patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health literacy affects a patient's ability to navigate through the system of care for late-stage kidney disease, including evaluation, waiting, and recovering from kidney transplant.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To develop and provide a preliminary evaluation of a knowledge and decision-making capacity tool, which is a component of health literacy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional design with purposive sampling.
  
  
  METHODS
  Vascular access, dialysis, and outpatient transplant clinics.
  
  
  METHODS
  A Decision-Making Capacity Assessment Tool (DMCAT) was developed and administered to 127 adults at different stages in the kidney care process.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The DMCAT tool is positively and significantly correlated to the other 2 previously validated instruments and accounts for more variance than the other 2 tools in the regression models. We found significant differences in patients' health literacy and decision-making capacity related to their stage of care. Decision-making capacity appeared to be an important component of health literacy and should be considered as health care providers tailor care to meet patients' needs.
authors.affiliation: Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.
authors.forename: Abby Swanson
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Kazley
authors.affiliation: Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.affiliation: Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.
authors.forename: Kit N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Simpson
authors.affiliation: Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chavin
authors.affiliation: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rodrigue
authors.affiliation: Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.
authors.forename: Prabhakar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baliga
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D057220:Health Literacy; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires