Application of Health Literacy Tools to Understand the Status of Health Literacy

Abstract

Health is one of the most important elements of human development and growth. People with better awareness about their health are able to maintain a good health trajectory throughout. People with limited health literacy are more likely to make medication errors, and they have less health knowledge, worse health status, more hospitalisations, and higher healthcare costs than people with adequate literacy. An earnest effort is made to understand the health literacy levels of literate adults review the health literacy position among literate adults who are able to read and understand English in urban and rural Mangaluru with the help of REALM-Teen, REALM-SF, REALM-R and NVS health literacy tools. Health literacy scores observed among the respondents in this study were very poor. It means that most people would struggle to understand different healthcare information. By improving peoples access to health information, and their capacity to use it effectively, health literacy can be improved. More interactions must take place between the healthcare workers, doctors, nurses and the general public so as to increase the awareness regarding the health in the society.

Keywords: Human Development, Healthcare, REALM-Teen, REALM-SF, REALM-R, Newest Vital Sign, Health Literacy

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