School of Allied Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
School of Nursing & Midwifery, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Health Promot J Austr. 2023 Feb;34(1):173-184. doi: 10.1002/hpja.659. Epub 2022 Sep 20.
Health literacy - the degree to which people can access, understand and use health information - is essential for shared decision-making and improved health outcomes. Health consumers' ability to engage with health care professionals (HCPs) is influenced by their health literacy capabilities. This research sought to understand health literacy-related barriers and enablers to engage with non-physician HCPs as experienced by consumers.
A qualitative descriptive approach was undertaken. A semi-structured interview guide was used, incorporating five health literacy domains described in the Health Literacy Questionnaire that related to consumers' engagement with health professionals. Audio- or digitally-recorded interviews were conducted with Australian health consumers, and transcribed and themed using the Patient-centred Access to Care framework as a template.
Interviewing 30 consumers revealed that HCPs' clinical skills often enabled consumers to seek engagement; however, during active engagement their interpersonal skills became a key enabler. Conversely, a lack of developed interpersonal skills in HCPs was frequently seen as a barrier to consumer engagement. Barriers to engagement were also created when HCPs' information did not match what consumers discovered from other sources. However, consumers self-reported that they were unable to appraise health information at least some of the time.
Barriers and enablers to consumers' engagement with HCPs were identified across each of the five relevant health literacy domains. SO WHAT?: HCPs should be aware of the importance of interpersonal skills and clear health information suitable for consumers with lower health literacy. Additionally, time dedicated to educating consumers on information appraisal could act as a further enabler to effective engagement.
健康素养——人们获取、理解和使用健康信息的程度——对于共同决策和改善健康结果至关重要。健康消费者与医疗保健专业人员（HCPs）互动的能力受到其健康素养能力的影响。这项研究旨在了解健康消费者与非医师 HCP 互动时与健康素养相关的障碍和促进因素。
采用定性描述方法。使用半结构化访谈指南，该指南纳入了与消费者与健康专业人员互动相关的健康素养问卷中描述的五个健康素养领域。对澳大利亚健康消费者进行音频或数字记录访谈，并使用以患者为中心的护理准入框架作为模板进行转录和主题分析。
对 30 名消费者进行访谈后发现，HCP 的临床技能通常使消费者能够寻求互动；然而，在积极互动期间，他们的人际交往技能成为了一个关键的促进因素。相反，HCP 缺乏发展良好的人际交往技能经常被视为消费者参与的障碍。当 HCP 的信息与消费者从其他来源发现的信息不匹配时，也会造成参与障碍。然而，消费者自我报告说，他们至少有时无法评估健康信息。
在五个相关健康素养领域中的每一个领域，都确定了消费者与 HCP 互动的障碍和促进因素。
HCP 应该意识到人际交往技能和适合健康素养较低的消费者的清晰健康信息的重要性。此外，专门用于教育消费者信息评估的时间可以作为有效互动的进一步促进因素。
