Zomorodbakhsch Bijan, Keinki Christian, Seilacher Eckart, Huebner Jutta
Department of Oncology, Paracelsus-Clinic at Sea, 37581, Bad Gandersheim, Germany.
Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, University Hospital Jena, Am Klinikum 1, 07747, Jena, Germany.
J Cancer Educ. 2020 Feb;35(1):22-27. doi: 10.1007/s13187-018-1435-4.
Numeracy is highly relevant for therapy safety and effective self-management. Worse numeracy leads to poor health outcome. Most medical information is expressed in numbers. Considering the complexity of decisions, more information on the patient's ability to understand information is needed. We used a standardized questionnaire. Content was self-perception of numeracy, preferences regarding decision-making with respect to medical issues, and preferred content of information from four possible answers on side effect of cancer therapies (insomnia) within two scenarios. Overall, 301 participants answered the questionnaire. Presentation of facts in numbers was rated as helpful or very helpful (59.4%). Higher numeracy was associated with higher appreciation for presentation in numbers (p = 0.002). Although participants indicated presentation of facts in numbers as helpful in general, the favored answer in two concrete scenarios was verbal and descriptive instead of numerical. Numeracy is highly relevant for therapy safety and effective self-management. Health professionals need more knowledge about patient's ability and preferences with respect to presentation of health information. An individualized patient communication might be the best strategy to discuss treatment plans. We need to understand in which situations patients benefit from numerical presentation and how managing numerical data might influence decision processes.
算术能力与治疗安全及有效的自我管理高度相关。较差的算术能力会导致不良的健康结果。大多数医学信息都是用数字来表达的。考虑到决策的复杂性，需要更多关于患者理解信息能力的信息。我们使用了一份标准化问卷。内容包括对算术能力的自我认知、在医疗问题决策方面的偏好，以及在两种情景下从关于癌症治疗副作用（失眠）的四个可能答案中选择的首选信息内容。总体而言，301名参与者回答了问卷。以数字形式呈现事实被评为有帮助或非常有帮助（59.4%）。较高的算术能力与对数字呈现的更高认可度相关（p = 0.002）。尽管参与者总体上表示以数字形式呈现事实是有帮助的，但在两个具体情景中，最受欢迎的答案是文字描述性的而非数字性的。算术能力与治疗安全及有效的自我管理高度相关。医疗专业人员需要更多关于患者对健康信息呈现的能力和偏好的知识。个性化的患者沟通可能是讨论治疗方案的最佳策略。我们需要了解患者在哪些情况下从数字呈现中受益，以及管理数字数据如何影响决策过程。
