Department of Infectious Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
Research Centre for Patient Involvement, Central Denmark Region, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
AIDS Res Ther. 2023 Aug 26;20(1):59. doi: 10.1186/s12981-023-00562-8.
Low health literacy (HL) among people living with HIV (PLWHIV) encounter more disease related complications, more difficulty understanding health-related information and low adherence. Considering that, the HL levels among PLWHIV needs to be further investigated. The objective of this study was to investigate the levels of HL and patient involvement among PLWHIV in an outpatient clinic in Denmark. A second objective was to examine differences in HL levels across socio-demographic characteristics.
In 2019, a population of 682 PLWHIV from a Danish outpatient hospital clinic were enrolled in cross-sectional study. Patients who had a digital postbox received an electronic questionnaire including following domains; health literacy, patient involvement, and socio-demographic status. Health literacy was measured using the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) through scores on three subscales: social support for health (HLQ4), engaging with healthcare providers (HLQ6), and understanding health information (HLQ9). An unpaired t-test was used to investigate mean differences in the HLQ scores across socio-demographic variables.
A total of 338 (55%) patients responded to the questionnaire. The included participants demonstrated high levels of HLQ4 (mean = 4.2) and HLQ6 (mean = 4.2), but lower for HLQ9 (mean = 2.9). In total 70-80% reported being involved in decisions about their health. We found a positive association between high level of HL (HLQ9) and living with a partner and higher levels of HL (HLQ4, HLQ6, and HLQ9) and employment.
PLWHIV in a Danish out-patient care population were found to have high levels of HL despite differences in demographic characteristics. Further research is needed to examine the levels of HL among non-responders to develop HL approaches and strategies to meet the needs of individuals with different HL skills.
患有艾滋病病毒（HIV）的人群（PLWHIV）的健康素养（HL）较低，他们会遇到更多与疾病相关的并发症，更难以理解与健康相关的信息，并且治疗依从性更低。鉴于此，需要进一步调查 PLWHIV 的 HL 水平。本研究的目的是调查丹麦一家门诊诊所中 PLWHIV 的 HL 水平和患者参与度。第二个目的是检查 HL 水平在社会人口统计学特征方面的差异。
2019 年，丹麦一家门诊医院诊所的 682 名 PLWHIV 参加了横断面研究。有数字邮箱的患者收到了一份电子问卷，其中包括以下领域：健康素养、患者参与度和社会人口统计学特征。健康素养通过三个子量表的分数来衡量：健康的社会支持（HLQ4）、与医疗保健提供者互动（HLQ6）和理解健康信息（HLQ9）。使用独立样本 t 检验来调查 HLQ 分数在社会人口统计学变量上的差异。
共有 338 名（55%）患者对问卷做出了回应。参与的患者在 HLQ4（平均=4.2）和 HLQ6（平均=4.2）方面表现出较高的 HL 水平，但在 HLQ9（平均=2.9）方面则较低。总体而言，70-80%的患者报告参与了有关其健康的决策。我们发现，高水平的 HL（HLQ9）与与伴侣生活以及更高水平的 HL（HLQ4、HLQ6 和 HLQ9）与就业之间存在正相关关系。
尽管在人口统计学特征方面存在差异，但丹麦门诊护理人群中的 PLWHIV 被发现具有较高的 HL 水平。需要进一步研究来检查非应答者的 HL 水平，以制定 HL 方法和策略，以满足不同 HL 技能的个人的需求。
