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Respiratory Care

Health literacy levels of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a cross-sectional study

21 November 2024
Focus
02 November 2024
Volume 33 · Issue 21

Abstract

Health literacy is defined as an individual's ability to access, understand and use information to make informed decisions. This study aimed to assess health literacy levels and explore the relationship between health literacy and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) severity. A cross-sectional study of health literacy in patients with COPD used the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) and the Medical Research Council Breathlessness Scale to assess COPD severity. HLQ domains of ‘having sufficient information to manage my health’, ‘actively managing health’, and ‘understanding health information’ scored most highly. Patients with the greatest COPD severity had lower scores in the domain ‘having sufficient information to manage my health’, but indicated an improved ability to appraise health information. Patients with increased COPD severity have greater self-reported skills in appraising health information, but they report reduced confidence in having sufficient information to manage their health. This study highlights the importance of considering health literacy levels, as this could be a barrier to successful self-management.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive respiratory condition, characterised by breathlessness and excess sputum production (Wedzicha et al, 2003). Managing COPD places great demands on the affected individual, due to fluctuating progressive respiratory symptoms, overlaid with complex comorbidities (Vogelmeier et al, 2017; Welch et al, 2021) and the reliance on self-management.

Effective self-management requires a range of skills that are vital for an individual to support the day-to-day responsibility of managing their condition, as well as responding to changes or exacerbations. Supporting self-management is a process that should be patient focused, with shared decision-making between patient and clinician (Welch et al, 2021). For some individuals the complexity of accessing, understanding and applying new health self-management skills, and changing their behaviours, constitutes a considerable new workload (May et al, 2014), and individuals' health literacy skills will impact on their ability to self-manage their long-term condition (Adams et al, 2009).

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Health literacy
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
COPD
Self-management
Health literacy questionnaire
Engaging with healthcare providers
Navigating the healthcare system