Table 1.
Participant Characteristics by Randomization Group
| Characteristic | Redesigned * (n=103)
(n) percent or mean (SD) |
Standard* (n=102)
(n) percent or mean (SD) |
P-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean Age (SD) | 59.4 (8.1) | 61.9 (9.0) | .03 |
| Race | |||
| White, Non-Hispanic | (30) 29.1 | (22) 21.6 | |
| White, Hispanic | (34) 33.0 | (30) 29.4 | |
| Black | (21) 20.4 | (28) 27.5 | .45 |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | (10) 9.7 | (9) 8.8 | |
| Native American/Multi-ethnic/Other | (8) 7.8 | (13) 12.7 | |
| Gender: Female | (51) 49.5 | (57) 55.9 | .36 |
| Income: ≤ $10,000† | (36) 43.4 | (46) 53.5 | .19 |
| Education | |||
| College or graduate degree | (19) 18.6 | (15) 14.7 | |
| Some college | (33) 32.4 | (33) 32.4 | .83 |
| High School | (20) 19.6 | (19) 18.6 | |
| < High School | (30) 29.4 | (35) 34.3 | |
| Mean years of education (SD) | 12.2 (4.6) | 12.0 (5.6) | .78 |
| Literacy‡ | |||
| Limited Literacy | (41) 39.8 | (41) 40.2 | .96 |
| Mean Literacy score (SD) | 25.0 (10.2) | 24.5 (11.2) | .72 |
| Language most comfortable speaking | |||
| English | (60) 58.2 | (67) 65.7 | |
| Spanish | (32) 31.1 | (28) 27.4 | .46 |
| Other§ | (11) 10.7 | (7) 6.9 | |
| US born | (57) 55.3 | (66) 64.7 | .17 |
| If not US born, years lived in US (SD) | 24.3 (11.9) | 24.8 (11.6) | .88 |
| Married | (34) 33.3 | (39) 38.6 | .43 |
| Religious (very or extremely) | (44) 43.1 | (49) 48.0 | .48 |
| Health Status | |||
| Fair to Poor self-rated health | (71) 68.9 | (70) 68.6 | .96 |
| Mean number of hospitalizations (SD) | 1.2 (1.4) | 1.2 (2.8) | .97 |
| Mean number of co-morbidities (SD) | 2.8 (1.4) | 2.9 (1.4) | .70 |
| Dementia∥ | (3) 3.0 | (4) 4.0 | .83 |
| Ever Filled out Advance Directive | (14) 13.6 | (12) 11.8 | .69 |
| Ever Helped other fill out Advance Directive | (11) 10.7 | (21) 20.6 | .05 |
| Knowledge of Advance Directive Topics** | 58.5 | 62.2 | .34 |
“Redesigned” is the advance directive written at a 5th grade reading level and containing culturally appropriate graphics. “Standard” is the standard California advance health care directive written at a 12th grade reading level.
Income data only available for 169 (82%) participants
Literacy was assessed using the Short Form test of Functional Literacy in Adults (s-TOFHLA), a 36-item, timed reading comprehension test. Participants with scores ≤ 22 were considered to have “limited literacy”.
Participants in the “Other” category reported speaking English “well” or “very well,” but were most comfortable speaking their native language (e.g. Cantonese, Tagalog, etc.)
As assessed by the Mini-Cog
The overall percentage of 12 factual items about advance directives answered correctly