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Importance of health literacy in oncology
Author(s) -
KOAY Kelvin,
SCHOFIELD Penelope,
JEFFORD Michael
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
asia‐pacific journal of clinical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1743-7563
pISSN - 1743-7555
DOI - 10.1111/j.1743-7563.2012.01522.x
Subject(s) - health literacy , health care , medicine , psychological intervention , disease , health communication , health education , literacy , population , family medicine , nursing , psychology , public health , environmental health , pathology , communication , political science , pedagogy , law
Health literacy refers to one's ability to obtain, process and understand health information and services to enable sound health decision‐making. This is an area of increasing importance due to the complexity of the health system, especially in the cancer setting. A certain level of health literacy is required for patients to fully understand health information and services to make sound decisions about their health care, including decisions about screening and treatment. Previous research has suggested that a significant proportion of the population may have limited health literacy. Suboptimal health literacy is an independent risk factor for poor health outcomes, including increased risk of hospitalization. Cancer patients with poor health literacy may have misconceptions about their disease and ineffective communication with their health professionals, leading to unnecessary interventions, under‐treatment or poor adherence to their treatment plans. In addition, cancer patients who have a poor understanding of their disease may experience greater anxiety and be more dissatisfied with their care. Various strategies have been suggested to assist cancer patients with low health literacy. However, more work needs to be done to support all cancer patients with varying levels of health literacy, thus enhancing health experiences and health outcomes.