Inadequate health literacy is generally described as a silent epidemic, which is challenging the functioning of health care systems all over the world. Health literacy is understood as the ability to obtain, process, and understand basic health information in order to effectively navigate the health system. Low health literate patients perceive poor self-efficacy, are not willing to be involved in the provision of care, show larger risks of hospitalization and mortality, and are not aware about the determinants of wellbeing. Moreover, limited health literacy has been associated with inadequate management of long-term conditions. This study is aimed at examining the association between health literacy and the appropriate management of hypertension. For this purpose, a narrative literature review has been performed, concerning 38 articles retrieved from the databases PubMed, Scopus-Elsevier, EBSCOhost and Web of Science. Even though the literature is not consistent dealing with this issue, inadequate health literacy is mainly conceived as a significant determinant of poor health outcomes among hypertensive patients.

Comprensione vs ipertensione: gli impatti dell'alfabetizzazione sanitaria sulla gestione dell'ipertensione arteriosa

PALUMBO, ROCCO
2015-01-01

Abstract

Inadequate health literacy is generally described as a silent epidemic, which is challenging the functioning of health care systems all over the world. Health literacy is understood as the ability to obtain, process, and understand basic health information in order to effectively navigate the health system. Low health literate patients perceive poor self-efficacy, are not willing to be involved in the provision of care, show larger risks of hospitalization and mortality, and are not aware about the determinants of wellbeing. Moreover, limited health literacy has been associated with inadequate management of long-term conditions. This study is aimed at examining the association between health literacy and the appropriate management of hypertension. For this purpose, a narrative literature review has been performed, concerning 38 articles retrieved from the databases PubMed, Scopus-Elsevier, EBSCOhost and Web of Science. Even though the literature is not consistent dealing with this issue, inadequate health literacy is mainly conceived as a significant determinant of poor health outcomes among hypertensive patients.
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11386/4676327
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 1
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact