Twickler Th B Marcel, Hoogstraaten Evelien, Reuwer Anne Q, Singels Loes, Stronks Karien, Essink-Bot Marie-Louise
Academisch Medisch Centrum/Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2009;153:A250.
Health literacy is the combination of cognitive and social skills that is necessary for adequate response to information about health, illness and health care. Subjects with limited health literacy often experience difficulty in understanding the information provided by health care professionals and finding their way in the health care system, with consequent increased morbidity and mortality. Health literacy is a wider concept than literacy. Approximately 1.5 million people in the Netherlands, of which two thirds are of ethnic Dutch origin, have low literacy skills or are illiterate. The group with low health literacy is even larger. Health care professionals, including physicians, must be able to recognise limited health literacy in order to react appropriately, for example by adapting information provision, checking understanding, supporting communication with visual aids, and making longer appointments.Such measures may be expected to improve results, but investigation of their effectiveness is necessary.
健康素养是认知和社交技能的结合，是对有关健康、疾病和医疗保健信息做出充分反应所必需的。健康素养有限的受试者在理解医疗保健专业人员提供的信息以及在医疗保健系统中找到方向方面往往会遇到困难，从而导致发病率和死亡率上升。健康素养是一个比识字更广泛的概念。在荷兰，约有150万人识字能力低或不识字，其中三分之二是荷兰裔。健康素养低的人群甚至更多。包括医生在内的医疗保健专业人员必须能够识别有限的健康素养，以便做出适当反应，例如调整信息提供方式、检查理解情况、使用视觉辅助工具支持沟通以及安排更长的预约时间。这些措施可能会改善结果，但有必要对其有效性进行调查。
