IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i4p1547-d494531.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Building a House of Skills—A Study of Functional Health Literacy and Numeracy among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in Hungary

Author

Listed:
  • Andrea Klinovszky

    (Department of Health Economics, University of Szeged, 6724 Szeged, Hungary)

  • Orsolya Papp-Zipernovszky

    (Department of Psychology, University of Szeged, 6722 Szeged, Hungary)

  • Norbert Buzás

    (Department of Health Economics, University of Szeged, 6724 Szeged, Hungary)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore functional health literacy (FHL) and numeracy skills in an insulin-treated, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patient population, and their impact on diabetes self-care activities. A non-experimental, cross-sectional quantitative design was used for this study. The sample consisted of 102 T2DM patients on insulin therapy, including 42 males and 60 females, with a mean age of 64.75 years ( SD = 9.180) and an average diabetes duration of 10.76 years ( SD = 6.702). Independent variables were sociodemographic variables (e.g., age, educational level, etc.) and diabetes and health-related factors (e.g., duration of diabetes (years), the frequency of blood glucose testing/day, etc.). For this study, the participants completed the reading comprehension exercise from the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy (S-TOFHLA) and the Shortened Version of the Diabetes Numeracy Test (DNT-15), which specifically evaluates the numeracy skills of patients living with diabetes. The associations between the variables were examined with Spearman’s rank correlation. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to examine whether measured FHL skills impact diabetes self-care activities. We found that DNT-15 test ( β = 0.174, t (96) = 2.412, p < 0.018) had significant effect on the frequency of blood glucose testing/day. Moreover, the problem areas for patients with T2DM mostly included multi-step calculations according to food label interpretations, and adequate insulin dosage based on current blood glucose levels and carbohydrate intake. The results of regression analyses and Spearman’s rank correlation indicated that limited FHL and diabetes numeracy skills not only influenced the participants’ behaviors related to self-management, but they also affected their health outcomes. Thus, besides the personalization of insulin treatment, it is indispensable to provide more precise information on different types of insulin administration and more refined educational materials based on medical nutrition therapy.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Klinovszky & Orsolya Papp-Zipernovszky & Norbert Buzás, 2021. "Building a House of Skills—A Study of Functional Health Literacy and Numeracy among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in Hungary," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-14, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:1547-:d:494531
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1547/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1547/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lindsay C. Kobayashi & Jane Wardle & Michael S. Wolf & Christian von Wagner, 2016. "Aging and Functional Health Literacy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 71(3), pages 445-457.
    2. Nutbeam, Don, 2008. "The evolving concept of health literacy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(12), pages 2072-2078, December.
    3. Palumbo, Rocco & Annarumma, Carmela & Adinolfi, Paola & Musella, Marco & Piscopo, Gabriella, 2016. "The Italian Health Literacy Project: Insights from the assessment of health literacy skills in Italy," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(9), pages 1087-1094.
    4. Laura M. Mackey & Catherine Doody & Erik L. Werner & Brona Fullen, 2016. "Self-Management Skills in Chronic Disease Management," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 36(6), pages 741-759, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Johanna Sophie Lubasch & Mona Voigt-Barbarowicz & Nicole Ernstmann & Christoph Kowalski & Anna Levke Brütt & Lena Ansmann, 2021. "Organizational Health Literacy in a Hospital—Insights on the Patients’ Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-14, November.
    2. Chiara Lorini & Veronica Velasco & Guglielmo Bonaccorsi & Kevin Dadaczynski & Orkan Okan & Patrizio Zanobini & Luca P. Vecchio, 2022. "Validation of the COVID-19 Digital Health Literacy Instrument in the Italian Language: A Cross-Sectional Study of Italian University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-17, May.
    3. Francesca Gallè & Patrizia Calella & Christian Napoli & Fabrizio Liguori & Eduardo Alfonso Parisi & Giovanni Battista Orsi & Giorgio Liguori & Giuliana Valerio, 2020. "Are Health Literacy and Lifestyle of Undergraduates Related to the Educational Field? An Italian Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-9, September.
    4. Josefin Wångdahl & Per Lytsy & Lena Mårtensson & Ragnar Westerling, 2018. "Poor health and refraining from seeking healthcare are associated with comprehensive health literacy among refugees: a Swedish cross-sectional study," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(3), pages 409-419, April.
    5. Peta Harbour & Laurie Grealish, 2018. "Health literacy of the baby boomer generation and the implications for nursing," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(19-20), pages 3472-3481, October.
    6. Seyedeh Belin Tavakoly Sany & Hassan Doosti & Mehrsadat Mahdizadeh & Arezoo Orooji & Nooshin Peyman, 2021. "The Health Literacy Status and Its Role in Interventions in Iran: A Systematic and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-23, April.
    7. Candan Kendir & Eric Breton, 2020. "Health Literacy: From a Property of Individuals to One of Communities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-11, March.
    8. Maricel G. Santos & Anu L. Gorukanti & Lina M. Jurkunas & Margaret A. Handley, 2018. "The Health Literacy of U.S. Immigrant Adolescents: A Neglected Research Priority in a Changing World," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-18, September.
    9. Susanne Schnitzer & Raphael Kohl & Hella Fügemann & Kathrin Gödde & Judith Stumm & Fabian Engelmann & Ulrike Grittner & Nina Rieckmann, 2022. "Patient Navigation—Who Needs What? Awareness of Patient Navigators and Ranking of Their Tasks in the General Population in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-13, March.
    10. Apiradee Nantsupawat & Orn‐Anong Wichaikhum & Kulwadee Abhicharttibutra & Wipada Kunaviktikul & Mohd Said Bin Nurumal & Lusine Poghosyan, 2020. "Nurses' knowledge of health literacy, communication techniques, and barriers to the implementation of health literacy programs: A cross‐sectional study," Nursing & Health Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(3), pages 577-585, September.
    11. Chiao Ling Huang & Shu-Ching Yang & Chia-Hsun Chiang, 2020. "The Associations between Individual Factors, eHealth Literacy, and Health Behaviors among College Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-13, March.
    12. Yuji Kanejima & Kazuhiro P. Izawa & Masahiro Kitamura & Kodai Ishihara & Asami Ogura & Ikko Kubo & Hitomi Nagashima & Hideto Tawa & Daisuke Matsumoto & Ikki Shimizu, 2022. "Health Literacy Is Associated with Activities of Daily Living of Patients Participating in Cardiac Rehabilitation: A Multicenter Clinical Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-10, December.
    13. Constanze Hübner & Mariya Lorke & Annika Buchholz & Stefanie Frech & Laura Harzheim & Sabine Schulz & Saskia Jünger & Christiane Woopen, 2022. "Health Literacy in the Context of Implant Care—Perspectives of (Prospective) Implant Wearers on Individual and Organisational Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-36, June.
    14. Setti Rais Ali & Paul Dourgnon & Lise Rochaix, 2018. "Social Capital or Education: What Matters Most to Cut Time to Diagnosis?," Working Papers halshs-01703170, HAL.
    15. Sasha A. Fleary & Carolina Gonçalves & Patrece L. Joseph & Dwayne M. Baker, 2022. "Census Tract Demographics Associated with Libraries’ Social, Economic, and Health-Related Programming," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-13, May.
    16. Samuel G Smith & Laura M Curtis & Jane Wardle & Christian von Wagner & Michael S Wolf, 2013. "Skill Set or Mind Set? Associations between Health Literacy, Patient Activation and Health," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-7, September.
    17. Davillas, Apostolos & de Oliveira, Victor Hugo & Jones, Andrew M., 2023. "Is inconsistent reporting of self-assessed health persistent and systematic? Evidence from the UKHLS," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    18. Virginia Vettori & Chiara Lorini & Chiara Milani & Guglielmo Bonaccorsi, 2019. "Towards the Implementation of a Conceptual Framework of Food and Nutrition Literacy: Providing Healthy Eating for the Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-21, December.
    19. Ying Wu & Lu Wang & Zhongyuan Cai & Luqi Bao & Pu Ai & Zisheng Ai, 2017. "Prevalence and Risk Factors of Low Health Literacy: A Community-Based Study in Shanghai, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-10, June.
    20. Mitja Vrdelja & Sanja Vrbovšek & Vito Klopčič & Kevin Dadaczynski & Orkan Okan, 2021. "Facing the Growing COVID-19 Infodemic: Digital Health Literacy and Information-Seeking Behaviour of University Students in Slovenia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-16, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:1547-:d:494531. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.