Parental health literacy and asthma education delivery during a visit to a community-based pediatric emergency department: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the study was to compare change in asthma knowledge among parents with low or adequate health literacy after video or written asthma education delivered during their child's asthma-related emergency department (ED) visit.

METHODS

We recruited a convenience sample of parents presenting to the ED with their asthmatic child 2 to 14 years old. Parents were randomized to receive video (intervention) or written (active-control) asthma education materials. Health literacy levels were determined using the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine tool. Asthma knowledge was evaluated at enrollment and 6-week telephone follow-up. Differences in knowledge scores were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed rank tests; χ² tests were used for comparisons of categorical variables.

RESULTS

Of 150 eligible parents, 129 participated (86%), and 117 were eligible for follow-up. Telephone follow-up was completed with 86 parents (74%). Health literacy levels were low in 31% of the parents. High asthma knowledge scores at enrollment were achieved by 33% of low-literacy and 59% of adequate-health-literacy parents (P = 0.025). Improvement in knowledge was realized for low-literacy parents regardless of the type of education (P < 0.001). Parents with adequate health literacy showed increased knowledge scores only after viewing the video.

CONCLUSIONS

Asthma education materials distributed at the time of an ED visit increase parental knowledge about the disease. Video-based asthma education appears promising as a tool for increasing asthma knowledge in both low- and adequate-health-literacy parents.