Cardiovascular Health Literacy and Patient-Physician Communication Intervention in Women from Disadvantaged Communities

Health Literacy is defined as an individual`s motivation and ability to gain access to, understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health. Low health literacy is associated with lower levels of physical activity, poor diet, smoking, obesity and cardiovascular events. Health literacy can be improved with intervention and as such can be considered a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. This study examines the effectiveness of a three-part cardiovascular health literacy intervention administered in the the community.

Methods: This intervention was implemented in municipality support groups for disadvantaged women in Jerusalem. Participants completed questionnaires at baseline and three months after the intervention to allow for a doctor visit in the interim.

Results: 422 women participated in the study. Average age was 62; only 7.7% reported having an academic degree and 48% had immigrated to Israel. Participants demonstrated an increase in knowledge of several risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and knowledge of heart attack symptoms. There was an increase in self-report of behaviors such as preparing lists of questions, medications, and of symptoms and overall fewer unprepared visits to the doctor. Participants reported greater confidence in their understanding of blood test results.

Conclusions: A community-based cardiovascular health literacy workshop was able to lead to increased knowledge, behavior change in preparation for doctor visits and increased satisfaction. Providing community-based interventions to improve health literacy in disadvantaged populations may lead to improved health care utilization prior to the development of chronic illness.