Abstract:
As healthcare systems grow increasingly complex, greater demands are placed on patients\' abilities to find, understand, appraise, and use health information - often termed their \'health literacy\'. Most health literacy research does not focus on information appraisal. When it does, there is a tendency to equate it with patients\' assessment of credibility. This reproduces a healthcare-centric understanding of information appraisal where patient agency is omitted. This study explores how participants in a health information intervention practiced information appraisal. The intervention aimed to increase information uptake for people with low back pain by delivering health information to them through animations. This study draws on ethnographic participant observation of the encounters between the intervention and its participants, including 49 rapid interviews and semi-structured telephone interviews with 23 participants carried out in the spring of 2021. Inspired by a social practice approach, the study thoroughly grounds the health literacy subcategory of \'appraisal\' in practice. It illustrates that participants appraised the information provided in the intervention according to several factors. These include relating the information to their personal health needs, interpreting the intended audience of the health animations, and prioritising their attention situationally between the animations and other immediate concerns. We suggest that information appraisal is a fundamental component of health literacy and should be considered key in research, policy and practice. To accommodate current healthcare ideals of patient centeredness, empowerment and informed choice, the complex and dynamic ways in which people appraise health information need be considered legitimate practices of health literacy.
摘要:
随着医疗保健系统变得越来越复杂,对患者的发现能力提出了更高的要求,理解,评价,并使用健康信息-通常称为他们的“健康素养”。大多数健康素养研究不关注信息评估。当它发生时,人们倾向于将其等同于患者对可信度的评估。这再现了以医疗保健为中心的信息评估的理解,其中省略了患者机构。本研究探讨了健康信息干预的参与者如何进行信息评估。该干预措施旨在通过动画向腰背痛患者提供健康信息,从而增加他们的信息吸收。这项研究借鉴了人种学参与者对干预措施与其参与者之间相遇的观察,包括2021年春季对23名参与者进行的49次快速采访和半结构化电话采访。受社会实践方法的启发,这项研究在实践中彻底证明了“评估”的健康素养子类别。它说明了参与者根据几个因素评估干预中提供的信息。这些包括将信息与他们的个人健康需求联系起来,解释健康动画的预期受众,并在动画和其他紧迫问题之间优先考虑他们的注意力。我们建议信息评估是健康素养的基本组成部分,应被视为研究的关键,政策与实践。为了适应当前以患者为中心的医疗保健理想,赋权和知情选择,人们评估健康信息的复杂和动态方式需要被视为健康素养的合法做法。