To the Editor:
Drs S. S. Bains and S. N. Bains point out that health literacy status is an important factor to consider when ascertaining self-management behavior and patient-physician communication among those with chronic illnesses. Although in our study1 in CHEST we could not measure health literacy when examining relationships among asthma action plans, self-management behaviors, and satisfaction, we agree that adequate health literacy is an important factor in health behavior.2,3 To date, measures of health literacy are limited in their ability to capture the full array of skills necessary for effective self-management behavior and patient-provider communication.4,5 The Institute of Medicine has highlighted the need for more comprehensive assessments that include reading, writing, speaking, listening, and numeracy.4 Better tools with strong psychometric properties are certainly needed. Health literacy is an important area that deserves further study to understand the range of factors that promote or impede self-management and patient-provider relationships.
Acknowledgments
Role of sponsors: The sponsor had no role in the design of the study, the collection and analysis of the data, or in the preparation of the manuscript.
Footnotes
Financial/nonfinancial disclosures: The authors have reported to CHEST that no potential conflicts of interest exist with any companies/organizations whose products or services may be discussed in this article.
Funding/Support: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [Grant 1 R18 HL60884–01].
Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians. See online for more details.
References
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