Health Literacy in Geriatric Patients

NCT06971393 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 17823
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 100
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Health Literacy is one's ability to understand health information well enough to make informed decisions about their health. Limited health literacy makes it hard for people to understand complex health issues and follow health care recommendations. Limited health literacy is associated with adverse health outcomes such as higher mortality, increased risk of emergency department visits and hospital admissions leading to higher medical costs. Although there are tools to assess health literacy, they are not widely used, so many healthcare providers do not measure their patients' health literacy levels adequately. Health care workers tend to overestimate their patients' health literacy. This is especially important for older adults who often have memory problems and multiple illnesses. This study will evaluate how doctors and team members in a geriatric clinic estimate their patient's health literacy and determine if this matches with the patients' health literacy as measured by a simple validated questionnaire. The investigators will also look at how a patient's relative or caregiver estimates their health literacy using a similar short questionnaire. The research team plans to follow up with a telephone call in 6 months, to see which health concerns if any have occurred since the clinic visit.

Conditions

Health Literacy

Keywords

Health Literacy; Geriatric health literacy assessment; Health literacy in tertiary care settings; Correlation of health literacy and health outcomes; BRIEF health literacy questionnaire; Visual Analogue Scale quality of life measure; Emergency room visits and hospitalization tracking in geriatric population; Patient-provider health literacy perception agreement; Patient, caregiver, and geriatric team health literacy alignment

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Patient self-identified HL

  The patient's self-identified health literacy based on the BRIEF, a 4-item measure of health literacy that has been validated for older adults.

  At enrollment

• Caregiver's perception of patient's HL

  The caregiver's perception of the patient's health literacy based on the BRIEF-C, a tool based on the BRIEF, constructed to reflect the caregiver's perception of the patient's HL.

  At enrollment

• Patient self-identified quality of life

  The patient's self-identified quality of life measured by the EQ-VAS, a visual analogue scale measuring quality of life on a scale of 0 to 100

  At enrollment

• Geriatric Team's assessment of patient's HL

  Geriatric Team will report HL as Adequate/marginal/inadequate. Level of adequacy (1,2,3) is optional

  At enrollment

Secondary Outcomes (13)

• Medication adherence

  At enrollment

• Number of participants with existing community home care planning

  At enrollment

• Number of participants with long-term care planning

  At enrollment

• Number of patients with code status discussion

  At enrollment

• Power of Attorney designation

  At enrollment

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 65 Years - 110 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients who have been referred by their primary care or other physicians, to the Geriatric Clinic at the St. Peter's Hospital site of Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation. All patients, including new referrals and follow up patients will be invited to participate in the study.

You may qualify if:

• Patients (both new and follow up) attending St. Peter's Hospital Geriatric Clinic
• Willingness to participate in the study (caregiver can rate HL for patient if patient unable to)
• Consenting to study (by patient or caregiver)

You may not qualify if:

• Behavior (e.g. behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia) which may be aggravated by additional questions
• Acute illness preventing participation
• Terminal illness that would prevent 6-month telephone follow up
• Previous participation in this study

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation: lead

Study Sites (1)

St. Peter's Geriatric Clinic

Hamilton, Ontario, L8M 1W9, Canada

RECRUITING

Related Publications (25)

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Central Study Contacts

Christopher Patterson, Professor of Medicine

CONTACT

(905) 521-2100; pattec4@mcmaster.ca

Elaine Y Wang

CONTACT

(437)-688-2550; wange71@mcmaster.ca

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: OTHER
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Target Duration: 6 Months
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 8, 2024
• First Posted: May 14, 2025
• Study Start: February 26, 2025
• Primary Completion: June 1, 2025
• Study Completion: December 31, 2025
• Last Updated: May 18, 2025

Record last verified: 2024-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CA (1)