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. 2019 Jul 26;6(4):1481-1490.
doi: 10.1002/nop2.350. eCollection 2019 Oct.

A cross-sectional study of health literacy in patients with chronic kidney disease: Associations with demographic and clinical variables

Une Elisabeth Stømer  1 , Lasse Gunnar Gøransson  2   3 , Astrid Klopstad Wahl  4 , Kristin Hjorthaug Urstad  1
Affiliations

A cross-sectional study of health literacy in patients with chronic kidney disease: Associations with demographic and clinical variables

Une Elisabeth Stømer et al. Nurs Open. .

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate health literacy in patients with chronic kidney disease in a multidimensional perspective.

Design: A descriptive, cross-sectional study.

Methods: Patients with chronic kidney disease at stages 3-5 were included in the study between February-August 2017 (N = 187). Health literacy was measured by the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to identify associations between health literacy and demographic and clinical variables. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to identify characteristics of groups with high and low health literacy.

Results: Finding and critical appraise health information were the most challenging dimensions of health literacy. Female gender, lower level of education, greater number of prescribed medications and depressive symptoms were associated with lower health literacy. The group identified with lowest health literacy was further characterized by living alone and presence of comorbidity.

Keywords: chronic kidney disease; clinical variables; demographic variables; health literacy; healthcare providers including nurses.

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Conflict of interest statement

There is no conflict of interest to report.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of the study participants. CKD, chronic kidney disease
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean HLQ scale scores for patients in different clusters of HL. HLQ, Health Literacy Questionnaire. Part 1: scales 1–5, Part 2: scales 6–9. HLQ scores in Part 1 were denoted as follows: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree and 4 = strongly agree. HLQ scores in part 2 were denoted as follows: 1 = cannot do, 2 = usually difficult, 3 = sometimes difficult, 4 = usually easy and 5 = always easy. *p‐Value < .01
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