Health literacy may not be correlated with patient involvement in decision-making
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Published results showed no significant relationship between health literacy and patients’ preferred involvement in the decision-making for their orthopedic care.
“This finding suggests that patients with low health literacy may desire active participation in their care, regardless of their understanding of the technical terminology used by their physician,” the authors wrote.
To evaluate patient health literacy and preferred level of involvement in decision-making, researchers collected the Literacy in Musculoskeletal Problems survey and the Control Preferences Scale survey from patients who presented to a multidisciplinary orthopedic clinic between January 2018 and April 2018.
Of the 143 patients enrolled, 87% returned completed questionnaires and were included for statistical analysis. Results showed 37% of patients had limited health literacy, defined by a health literacy score of less than 6. Researchers noted 48% of patients preferred to have an equal share in the decisions for their care with their physician, 38% of patients preferred to have a more active role in the decisions for their care and 14% of patients preferred to have a less active role in the decisions for their care. Researchers found no statistically significant correlation between health literacy and patient preference for involvement in decision-making. Patients who had private insurance and patients employed at for-profit companies preferred to take a more active role in their care, according to results of a bivariate analysis.
“To facilitate active and informed decision-making with these patients, physicians can focus on communicating diagnosis and treatment options in clear, simple language that will educate patients and allow physicians to confirm that their patients understand their options,” the authors wrote. “Additionally, research focusing on understanding which subsets of patients prefer to make a shared decision with their physicians may improve the success of decision aids and preference elicitation tools in promoting patient-physician shared decision-making.”
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