Darren A. DeWalt|Ashley Hink
Health Literacy and Child Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review of the Literature
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
review relationship parent child literacy child health outcomes interventions designed improve child health outcomes children parents low literacy skillswe searched medline cumulative index nursing allied health literature cinahl articles published 1980 2008 included studies reported original data measured literacy or1 health outcome assessed relationship literacy health outcomes health outcomes included health knowledge health behaviors use health care resources intermediate markers disease status measures morbidity two abstractors reviewed study inclusion included studies abstracted evidence tables assessed using 11item quality scalewe reviewed 4182 new titles abstracts published since 2003 fiftyeight articles retained full review 13 met inclusion criteria eleven articles systematic review 1980 2003 met inclusion criteria giving us total 24 articles children low literacy generally worse health behaviors parents low literacy less health knowledge behaviors less advantageous childrens health compared parents higher literacy children whose parents low literacy often worse health outcomes found mixed results relationship literacy use health care services interventions found improving written materials increase health knowledge combining good written materials brief counseling improve behaviors including adherence average quality studies fair goodchild parent literacy seems associated important health outcomes future research help us understand circumstances relationship causal literacy health outcomes related noncausal pathways relative importance parent child literacy interventions effectively reduce health literacyrelated disparities