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Tuesday, November 3, 2009: 1:15 PM
Learning Objective 1: understand the importance of assessing literacy levels in primary care patients to be able to apply suitable teaching methods.
Learning Objective 2: have insight in the process used to adapt the REALM-R to the South African context.
Low literacy can be described as the inability to read, write or use numbers effectively. The limited ability to read and understand health care instructions directly translates into poor health outcomes. The purpose of the study was to determine the English reading levels of patients in a primary health care clinic in the west of Tshwane and to adapt and validate a suitable literacy instrument to measure the English literacy levels in primary health care patients. The study focussed on two specific sub problems, which were firstly to adapt the current REALM-R for the South African context and secondly to determine the English literacy levels of primary care patients using the Learning Ability Battery and determining how the results of the adapted REALM-R correlate with the Learning Ability Battery. The research design was the modified Delphi technique and a cross-sectional survey. The data gathering for the study was done by self-report. The data analysis was done by descriptive statistics and inferential statistics including the chi-square test and Spearman’s rho. The result of the study indicated that in South Africa, the school grades achieved and the reading levels of primary care patients differ with 4 grades. In terms of the correlation between the adapted REALM-R and the Learning Ability Battery, a correlation of r=0.43 (p<0.001) could be established. Depending on the cut-off point, 67% of the participants had low literacy levels. The study provide evidence of the importance of a validated, quick and easy to administer literacy screening tool for use in the primary care setting to improve patients’ health literacy.