Health literacy and health-promoting behaviors among adults at risk for diabetes in a remote Filipino community

Guided paths to understanding: can patient navigation improve health literacy among adults in the Philippines?

Patient navigation shows promise for improving healthcare access and health information, though its impact on health literacy among underserved populations in developing countries remains underinvestigated. This study evaluated the effectiveness of patient navigation services in improving health literacy in the Philippines. Using a quasi-experimental, one-group pretest-posttest design over 2 months, 105 participants were recruited through random sampling from a tertiary hospital. The intervention provided personalized guidance on healthcare access, health information, appointment scheduling, and referrals. Health literacy was assessed across four dimensions (Access, Understand, Appraise, Apply) using a researcher-developed questionnaire. Participant demographics showed a majority aged 18-30 years (68.6%), female (75.2%), single (63.8%), and college/university educated (53.3%). Nearly half (45.7%) had no income, while 31.4% earned below minimum wage. Participants reported using patient navigation to consult a doctor (75.2%) and were made aware of the available services mostly through other family members (28.6%). Follow-up data revealed significant improvements across all health literacy dimensions (P < .001). In the Access dimension, participants who strongly agreed increased from 18% to 35% in knowing where to find information, and from 16% to 34% in having easy access. The Understand dimension showed gains from 20% to 39% for comprehending provider information, and 21% to 38% for understanding risks and benefits. The Appraise dimension improved from 22% to 36% for evaluating accuracy, and 24% to 39% for asking pertinent questions, while the Apply dimension increased from 25% to 35% for making informed decisions, and 23% to 37% for taking health action. These results suggest that patient navigation services can effectively enhance health literacy among Filipino adults, demonstrating the potential of this patient-centered approach in promoting health equity in similar settings.

Predicting the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile of Pregnant Women Based on Their Health Literacy Levels: A Cross-Sectional Study

AIM

Health literacy is considered as key factor to empower women to participate in self-care and child-care activities. The purpose of the present study is to determine the relationship between health-promoting behaviours and health literacy among pregnant women.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study.

METHODS

This study surveyed 308 pregnant women in 2022 using questionnaires, including the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP II) and the Health Literacy for Iranian Adults (HELIA). Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyse the data by IBM SPSS 23.0 statistics package program.

RESULTS

The mean scores for women's health literacy and health-promoting behaviours were 70.31 ± 13.56 and 135.56 ± 17.38, respectively. The lowest score in the health literacy subscales was related to the appraisal (66.07 ± 17.81) and in the health-promoting lifestyle dimensions was associated with the physical activity dimension (13.87 ± 3.87). There was a significant and positive correlation between health literacy and health-promoting behaviours (r = 0.53, p < 0.001). Among the health literacy dimensions, decision-making showed the strongest correlation with health-promoting lifestyle (r = 0.55, p < 0.001).

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

The results of this study demonstrated that pregnant women with higher health literacy scores exhibited a higher level of engagement in health-promoting behaviours. Assessing health-promoting behaviours in pregnant women by health providers during prenatal care helps identify dimensions receiving less attention during pregnancy, and solutions can be provided to women to address these issues.

Public health nursing: Challenges and innovations for health literacy in rural area

Health literacy is a critical component of public health nursing, particularly in rural areas where access to health services is severely limited. As it relates to quality of care, cost of care, safety of care, and appropriate decision-making in general public health, health literacy can also be seen as an important public policy issue. Several challenges that can be found in rural communities in terms of access to health literacy, such as limited access to healthcare services, limited resources, low literacy rate, cultural and language barriers, financial constraints, and digital divide. Based on these challenges, several innovations can be pursued such as community-based health education, health literacy training among healthcare professionals, digital health technology, partnerships with community-based organizations, health literacy radio programs, and community health ambassadors. This reflection highlights the challenges and innovations that nurses can do to overcome the problem of low-health literacy in rural communities. In the future, the development of community empowerment and technology will be needed to refine the progress made so that a gradual increase in health literacy in rural communities can be seen.

Developing, validating, and pre-testing of a diabetic care self-management mobile health application: A technology-based intervention for patients with diabetes in Malaysia

Background

Technology-based intervention showed a promising approach to health promotion strategies. There had been limited knowledge of the existing program for technology-based intervention in promoting foot care and dietary behavior modification. Thus, a mobile app was developed as an alternative strategy for promoting foot care and dietary behavior modification.

Objective

This paper aims to elaborate on the process of developing, validating, and examining the Diabetic Care Self-Management Mobile Health Application (Diabetic Care).

Methods

There are two phases conducted. The first phase is the process of developing and validating Diabetic Care. Intervention Mapping (IM) Framework was used to guide the process of developing Diabetic Care, while in assessing validity, guidance from Kassam-Adams et al. was used. A team of experts was appointed to validate the mobile app developed. Next, the usability of Diabetic Care was conducted among ten conveniently chosen patients with diabetes in a governmental primary care clinic.

Results

The process of developing Diabetic Care was clearly explained. The Diabetic Care app showed a good I-CVI score (1.00) and general CVI score (1.00) after the expert team assessed. During the trial, two drawbacks were identified and explored to find solutions.

Conclusion

The Diabetic Care app is proven appropriate to be employed in the study. Even though there were two drawbacks encountered, however, possible solutions were able to be explored in addressing the issues. Further research should be conducted to examine the effectiveness of this mobile app in modifying foot care behavior and dietary behavior. Hence, it will assist in the translation of advanced technology in nursing care.

Health literacy and health promoting behaviors among inpatient women during COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

One of the leading health indicators during the COVID-19 crisis is health literacy and health-promoting behaviors. The present study aimed to investigate health literacy and health-promoting behaviors among women hospitalized during the COVID-19 pandemic in the southern part of Iran in 2020.

METHODS

This descriptive-analytical study encompassed 465 women hospitalized and treated in none teaching hospitals affiliated with the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Data collection tools were the Health Literacy for Iranian Adults (HELIA) and Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II). The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods.

RESULTS

The mean scores of the participants' "health literacy" and "health-promoting behaviors" were 64.41 ± 11.31 and 112.23 ± 16.09, respectively, indicating the poor level of health literacy and the average level of health-promoting behaviors. Moreover, there was a significant direct correlation between health literacy and health-promoting behaviors (P < 0.001, r = 0.471). Furthermore, all health literacy dimensions of comprehension (P < 0.001), accessibility (P < 0.001), reading skills (P < 0.001), evaluation (P = 0.002), and decision making and behavior (P = 0.003) were detected as the predictors of health-promoting behaviors. Further, statistically significant relationships were noticed between the mean score of health literacy with age (r =  - 0.327, P = 0.007), level of education (F = 3.119, P = 0.002), and place of residence (t = 2.416, P = 0.004) and between health-promoting behaviors with level of education (F = 3.341, P = 0.001) and marital status (F = 2.868, P = 0.02).

CONCLUSION

According to the findings, health policymakers should adopt national measures for educational planning to promote health literacy and support health-promoting behaviors to encourage women to adopt a healthy lifestyle.