The relevance of context in understanding health literacy skills: Findings from a qualitative study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Conceptualizing health literacy as a relational concept, which involves how individuals interact with complex health and social systems, requires a greater understanding of the context of people's health experiences.

Objectives

To describe individuals' experiences of accessing, understanding, appraising and applying health information; explore the barriers and facilitators to using these skills; and to describe the experience of information exchange in health consultations.

Design

A longitudinal qualitative methodology with thematic analysis of interviews was used. Health literacy levels were assessed using the HLS-EU-47-Item Questionnaire. Findings are presented from the first round of data collection.

Setting and participants

Twenty-six participant

SUBMITTER: McKenna VB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5600250 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature