Question 1
The researchers state that "health literacy is a stronger predictor of health than age, income, employment, education, and race." Discuss why you agree or disagree with this statement and give examples to support your position.
posted by Anonymous @ 4:42 PM
29 comments
29 Comments:
I have a hard time choosing a side on this. I agree that reading and learning about how to care for yourself is important in making the right choices and knowing what is considered "healthy"." However there is also a lot of research backing race employement, and especially income to either be predisposed to or be provided with proper care services.
I agree with the researchers. According to the Institute of Medicine, nearly half of all American adults lack health literacy—an individual’s ability to obtain, process, and understand basic health information. Those with low health literacy fail to seek preventative care and are at a higher risk for being hospitalized and generally remain in the hospital two days longer than those with high health literacy. They are less likely to comply with prescribed treatment, self-care course of action and need additional care that results in annual health care costs.
Molly, you brought about some good points. I'm sure that research can back up a lot of the evidence that health literacy plays a huge role in appropraite health care. I wonder what other, possibly not obvious factors, play a part in the proper attainment and search for health care.
After much thought, I am going to disagree. I think factors such as income deter someone from going to the doctor just as much as health literacy. We know that certain risk factors increase your risk for disease, for example african american and HTN. We also know that having certain diseases increase your risk for others, i.e diabetes and heart diease or type 1 diabetes and celiac. I think that health literacy may be a strong predictor of health but not the strongest.
I think health literacy is a strong predictor of health, but as the article states, I do think that more research should be done on this topic before it can be considered the best. Level of education has already been shown to be a good predictor of health. Because education is so powerful, I think that the greater the education one has, the more likely they are to be able to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services to make informed health decisions. Education and health literacy are similar and I would assume an increase in one correlates with an increase in the other. If the researchers were to group the two together, I would definitely agree that together they are more influential on one's health than age, employment, race, and even income.
I must be overlooking it in this article but I read it like 3 times and don't see where the researchers made this statement. However, I disagree with this statement. I feel like health literacy is a symptom of all of the other factors mentioned. I don't believe that you would be able to go after the problem of health literacy and not address that someone doesn't have a job, and therefore lacks the time to care enough to read and understand health related issues. I do agree with the article that health literacy does affect all levels of healthcare process though. I also agree that they could use more research on the validity of these statements and how to intervene. However, I feel like most of the answers are going to go back to the core issues of age, income, employment, and education.
I think I have to disagree with this statement. Health literacy is a major factor in health yet other factors such as income and employment play an equal role in predicting health. For example, a dietetic intern is obviously health literate yet they may not have a job to provide them with enough money to address/fix a current health problem so they put it off. This applies to so many people throughout the United States. They may be well aware of their condition, what to do to fix it, and where to go yet they are not able to for income reasons.
Hi all! Since a few have asked, the statement from this question is actually the second sentence in the abstract at the beginning of the article and appears in the intro ending with the reference (3). The article they are referencing there comes from the American Medical Association. Hope that helps!
I am on the fence with this one. I am a strong believer that "knowledge does not dictate one's behavior". If the above statement were false, then no one would smoke cigarettes (minus the whole "addiction" aspect. I could also argue that education may or may not be a strong predictor because assuming the more education one has, the more likely they are to read printed media and search the internet for nutrition/health items...potentially exposing them to more non-credible health information. I like how Tiffany brought up how the environment has a huge influence it what the individual is exposed to. My fiance used to teach for CPS and his school was located in a "dry zone" meaning there were no fresh fruit/vegetables available for a specified radius.
I do in a lot of ways agree with this statement because an individual can have education, great employment, income, and so forth, but it does not mean that they are able to understand and processes basic health related information unless they have health literacy. We often see older patients who are possibly well educated, but who are also obese, have diabetes, or are suffering from heart disease. They may have all of the other factors listed, but they are not necessarily health literate and therefore are in their current health situation because of this. One thing that I did notice though, is that personality/motivation is not factored into this study. I feel that this is a very large factor in an individual’s health. Someone can have the most health literacy in the world, but without the motivation or desire to apply that information to their own lifestyle, they will not have health.
I was thinking of eating disorder patients that I see from the addiction recovery center often come from lower socioeconomic situations and usually do not have a lot of education. But, these patients have a significant amount of nutrition or health literacy because they have made it their life to learn and understand this basic knowledge (regardless of how they personally handle the information).
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I agree that health literacy is more likely to be a better predictor of health than the other variables. I have taught at elementary schools and the children had received more information and grew up with the knowledge and ate better diets than some adults I say as patients every day. I think that when people not only understand the facts but also understand the consequences of what they eat they are health literate. Most people do not understand all the consequences.
Amanda makes an interesting point that knowledge isn't always enough. How many times do we see diabetic pt's who know that they can end up with skin ulcers and nerve damage if they do not manage there blood sugar. I think that health literacy isn't just knowing the facts but also the consequences and someone isn't truly health literate until they are living in a way that supports a health.
I think that all 6 factors, together contribute to health status. Pulling one of them out, such as health literacy, and saying that THAT is the one that has more of an effect than all the others is stretching it. This is such a complex issue, and many valid points could be made on either side. Age, income, employment, education, and race likely predict health literacy, rather than the other way around. Once that association is made, then we can go on to say that health literacy predicts health status greater than any other single factor, but is that simply because all of those other factors are contributing to the health literacy? I think there is a better way to look at this issue, and that is that all 6 factors have a great effect on health status, and health literacy is the one factor that we can intervene on the most effectively.
I agree with that statement. I feel that the health field is always evolving and ones ability to stay on top of it would definitely be a strong deciding factor of health. For example I have a friend whose parents are not only very comfortable financially, and have college degrees but they are also not of an ethnic minority background. One has type 2 diabetes and both are overweight. They know how to read health information and understand it, but it is the decision making that is absent. Many have the ability but not enough take the step in the right direction.
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Brooke, motivation was exactly the word I was looking for. I agree even a high health literacy can be rendered inconsequential if motivation is not present.
I disagree with this statement. I do think that health literacy is a strong predictor of overall health, but I do not think that it is THE predictor. I agree with Emily about the importance of education and I think that it may be one of the strongest predictors of health. That is why there is such a need for what we do! Taylor brings up a good point that all of these factors play a critical role in overall health--not just one specifically. I agree with Kevin that oftentimes people have vital health knowledge, but their health is a reflection of what they choose to do or not to do with this information.
I agree and disagree with the statement health literacy is a stronger predictor. The definition reads that health literacy is "the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions." I agree that health literacy may be a better predictor for patients who are less educated (less able to process and understand) or have lower income (don't have access to services). On the opposite end of the spectrum are those that are well educated (are able to process and understand) and have sufficient income and insurance (have access to services). Because they are categorized as health literate does not mean they will be more healthy. Just hang out outside State Farm Corp South where the Systems department is housed and observe how many well educated, well to-do people are overweight. Or go to lunch in the cafeteria and see how long the line is for cheeseburgers and fries versus the healthy eating stations.
I agree with Brooke's comment, motivation may be a significant missing factor. Someone who is less health literate but motivated to be healthy may make better decisions than someone who is more literate but unmotivated.
I disagree with this. I think income, employment, and education influence a person’s health literacy. I think they are just looking at it wrong; health literacy is a result of all these factors. Although you may be health literate, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are healthy. You could know everything about being healthy and still not take care of yourself or because of predisposed health issues, due to familial problems, age or race, it may not make a difference. I think about how schools, businesses, television, radio, grocery stores, fast food restaurants, hospitals and so on advertise healthy lifestyle choices and it seems to not affect the U.S. population as much as we would hope so. The information is out there, people read it or hear it but it seems the information doesn’t impact their choices.
Brooke-
I completely agree with your statement about patients with eating disorders. Someone may be extremely health literate yet have incorrect/harmful beliefs or distorted thoughts on how to handle that information.
After reading through everyone's comments and reasoning I have decided I disagree with this statement. Yes, there needs to be a fundamental understanding of health and health topics in order for someone to follow through with treatments/prevention etc. But, I do believe each individual person whether wealthy or poor has their own motivational factors to increse health literacy or not. I believe it depends on each person's own motivation.
Taylor,
I like your point that all of these factors work together. The fact that we are able to identify these factors and focus on health literacy to most likely promote change is a great concept.
I somewhat agree with this statement but I also have a hard time choosing a particular side. Health literacy is such a newly researched field while there is so much previous research regarding other predictors like age, income, etc. Plus, it makes sense that those with higher health literacy would care more about their health and vice versa.
I agree with the statement that “health literacy is a stronger predictor of health than age, income, employment, education and race” because it takes a specific set of skills and knowledge to make healthy decisions. People with high-incomes and that are well educated still have the potential to make bad health choices, especially nutritionally, as well as be unaware of several health risks. I believe becoming health literate and learning preventative practices will have a stronger positive impact on an individual’s overall health than other aspects like race, employment, etc.
I would agree with this statement, we have all heard the saying "young at heart"! I think someone that has a good health literacy and is knowledgable about health is able to apply this to their life. Age, income, employment, education and even race are just factors in the equation. I think overall knowledge of health is more imiportant. If these factors had been BMI, or diet quality compared to health literacy I would then have disagreed with the statement.
I don't necessarily believe in the statement that "health literacy is a stronger predictor of health than age, income, employment, education, and race." I think age, income, employment, and education all influence someone's ability to be health literate. These variables cannot be separated from each other.
After reading what everyone has said I am now on the fence. I agree with most of you that it is not THE end all-be-all predictor. But, as Joci said this particular factor of "health literacy" is now being researched and hopefully we will be able to find out truly how much of a predictor it actually is for health care.
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