Perspectives for the Primary-Care Physician on the Strengths and Shortcomings in the Healthcare-Oriented Research of Child and Adult Literacy

Abstract

The acquisition of literacy is a skill that cannot be understated. A wide variety of distinct academic fields have long studied this issue and have found strong evidence that proficiency in literacy affect many aspects of the individual including socioeconomic status, health, and behaviors. In the last two decades, literacy in healthcare has been intently investigated not only as it relates to the health status of the individual, but also how one functions in the health system. Health literacy is a subset of the much broader concept of general literacy and physicians will gain a greater ability to understand and assist patients by incorporating this paradigm into their practice. While the literature has made important headway in understanding the impact of literacy, gaps and inconsistencies appear frequently within the literature. The intent of this study was to examine the wide variety of literacy research and summarize the strengths and weaknesses through the perspective of primary-care clinicians.