Table 3.
Overview of studies using oral health literacy tools 2007-2013
| Authors | Year | Title | Journal | Aim | Sample | n= | Setting | Tool used |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gong, D., Lee, J., Rozier, G., Pahel, B., Richman, J., Vann, W. | 2007 | Development and testing of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Dentistry (ToFHLiD) | Journal of Public Health Dentistry | To evaluate the reliability and validity of the ToFHLiD | Parents of paediatric patients | 102 | Caregivers of paediatric dental patients seeking care in two dental clinics in North Carolina | ToFHLiD |
| Jones, M., Lee, J., Rozier, G. | 2007 | Oral health literacy among adult patients seeking dental care | Journal of the American Dental Association | To examine the association of knowledge, dental care visits and oral health status with oral health literacy in dental patients | Adult patients | 101 | Convenience sample of adult patients presenting for treatment at private dental practices in North Carolina | REALD-30 and short interview |
| Lee, J., Rozier, G., Lee, S., Bender, D., Ruiz, R. | 2007 | Development of a word recognition instrument to test health literacy in dentistry: The REALD-30- A brief communication | Journal of Public Health Dentistry | To develop and pilot test a dental word recognition instrument | Adult patients | 200 | Ambulatory Care Centre at the University of North Carolina Hospital | REALD-30 and interview that included the TOFHLA & REALM & OHIP-14 |
| Richman, K., Lee, J., Rozier, G., Gong, D., Pahel, B., Vann, W. | 2007 | Evaluation of a word recognition instrument to test health literacy in dentistry: The REALD-99 | American Association of Public Health Dentistry | To evaluate a dental health literacy word recognition instrument | Parents of paediatric patients | 102 | Parents and caregivers of paediatric dental patients from the UNC-CH School of Dentistry Paediatric Dental Clinics and from Orange County Dental Clinics | REALD-99 |
| Jackson, R., Eckert, G. | 2008 | Health literacy in an adult dental research population: A pilot study | American Association of Public Health Dentistry | To gather data concerning the level of health literacy in adults who frequently volunteer for clinical research programs | Adults enrolled in the Oral Health Research Institute School of Dentistry | 100 | Oral Health Research Institute of Indiana University School of Dentistry | S-ToFHLA |
| Sabbahi.D., Lawrence, H., Limeback, H., Rootman, I. | 2009 | Development and evaluation of an oral health literacy instrument for adults | Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology | To develop and validate an instrument to measure functional oral health literacy of adults | Adult patients | 100 | Convenience sample of patients attending the Faculty of Dentistry clinics at the University of Toronto | Oral Health Knowledge test, OHLI, ToHFLA |
| Atchison, K., Gironda, M., Messadi, D., Der-Martirosian, C. | 2010 | Screening for oral health literacy in an urban dental clinic | Journal of Public Health Dentistry | To evaluate a health literacy instrument based on the REALM that incorporates dental and medical terms into one 84-item REALM-D measure and determine its association with patient characteristics of a culturally diverse dental clinic population | Adult patients | 200 | Oral health clinic urban centre Los Angeles, California | REALM-D |
| Macek, M., Haynes, D., Wells, W., Bauer-Leffler, S., Cotten, P., Parker, R. | 2010 | Measuring conceptual health knowledge in the context of oral health literacy: preliminary results | Journal of Public Health Dentistry | To assess the validity and reliability of a new instrument and describe conceptual oral health knowledge among a sample of low-income adults | Adult residents of Baltimore | 100 | Baltimore residents randomly selected from a list of those that had landlines | REALM and the S-ToFHLA to develop CMOHK |
| Parker, E., Jamieson, L. | 2010 | Associations between Indigenous Australian oral health literacy and self-reported oral health outcomes | BMC Oral Health | To determine oral health literacy (REALD-30) and oral health literacy-related outcome associations, and to calculate if oral health literacy-related outcomes are risk indicators for poor self-reported oral health among rural-dwelling Indigenous Australians | Indigenous adults | 468 | Convenience sample of Indigenous adults living in the Port Augusta region of Australia | REALD-30 and measures from OHL-14 |
| Vann, W., Lee, J., Baker, D., Divaris, K. | 2010 | Oral health literacy among female caregivers: Impact on oral health outcomes in early childhood | Journal of Dental Research | To investigate the association of female caregivers’ oral health literacy with their knowledge, behaviours and the reported oral health status of their young children | Child/ caregiver dyads from the Carolina Oral Health Literacy Project | 1273 | Caregivers and children enrolled in the Women’s Infants and Children’s (WIC)Supplemental Nutrition Program in North Carolina | REALD-30 and oral hygiene behaviours |
| Wells, P., Caplan, D., Strauss, R., Bell, D., George, M. | 2010 | An oral health survey of the Lumbee tribe in South-eastern North Carolina | The Journal of Dental Hygiene | To evaluate access to dental care issues, oral health knowledge and oral health-related quality of life of the Lumbee tribe | Adult Lumbee tribe members | 118 | Convenience sample of American Indian attending the Lumbee Tribe Homecoming in North Carolina | OHIP-14 and survey |
| Lee, Y., Divaris, K., Baker, A. Vann, W. | 2011 | The relationship of oral health literacy with oral health-related quality of life in a multi-racial sample of low-income female caregivers | Health and Quality of Life Outcomes | To investigate the association between oral health literacy (OHL) and Oral-Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) and explore the racial differences therein among a low-income community-based group of female WIC participants. | Low income adult females enrolled in WIC program | 1405 | Community setting of adult women enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children’s(WIC) Supplemental Nutrition Program in 7 counties in North Carolina. | OHIP-14, REALD-30 |
| Lee, J., Divaris, K., Baker, A., Rozier. R., Lee, S., Vann, W. | 2011 | Oral health literacy levels among a low-income WIC population | Journal of Public Health Dentistry | To determine oral health literacy (OHL) levels and explore potential racial differences in a low-income population | Care givers of paediatric patients | 1405 | Community setting of adult women enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children’s(WIC) Supplemental Nutrition Program in 7 counties in North Carolina. | REALD-30 and survey |
| Macek, M., Manski, M., Schneiderman, T., Meakin, S., Haynes, D., Wells, W., Bauer-Leffler, S., Cotton, A. Parker, R. | 2011 | Knowledge of oral health issues among low-income Baltimore adult: A pilot study | Journal of Dental Hygiene | Pilot study to document conceptual knowledge of oral health among low income adults in Baltimore | Low income adults in Baltimore | 100 | Baltimore residents randomly selected from a list of those that had landlines | BHLOHKP |
| Stucky, B., Lee, J., Lee, S., Rozier, R., | 2011 | Development of the two-stage Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry | Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology | To revise the 30 item Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry (REALD-30) into a more efficient and easier-to-use two-stage model | Low income adults (primarily women) enrolled in the WIC program | 1405 | Low income adults (primarily women) enrolled in the North Carolina WIC supplemental nutrition program | REALD-30, TS-REALD |
| Lee, J., Divaris, K., Baker, A., Rozier, R., Vann, W. | 2012 | The relationship of oral health literacy and self-efficacy with oral health status and dental neglect | American Journal of Public Health | To examine the association of oral health literacy (OHL) with oral health status (OHS) and dental neglect (DN) and whether self efficacy mediated or modified these associations | Female caregivers | 1280 | Community setting of adult women enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children’s WIC Supplemental Nutrition Program (in 7 counties in North Carolina. | REALD-30 |
| Lee, J., Stucky, B., Rozier, G., Lee, S., Zeldin, L. | 2012 | Oral health literacy assessment: development of an oral health literacy instrument for Spanish speakers | Journal of Public Health Dentistry | To develop an oral health literacy instrument for Spanish-speaking adults , evaluate its psychometric properties and determine its comparability to the English version | Adults fluent in English or Spanish at various sites in North Carolina | 405 | Sites that included WIC clinics in various regions of North Carolina, Early Head Start Centre and a continuity care clinic in North Carolina | OHLA, OHLA-S |
| Parker, E., Misan, G., Chong, A., Mills, A., Roberts-Thomson, K., Horowitz, A., Jamieson, L. | 2012 | An oral health literacy intervention for Indigenous adults living in a rural setting in Australia | BMC Public Health | To determine if implementation of a functional, context-specific oral health literacy intervention improves oral health literacy-related outcomes measured by use of dental services, and assessment of oral health knowledge, oral health self-care and oral health-related self-efficacy | Indigenous adults | 400 | RCT with randomisation | Adaptation of the HeLM |
| Wehmeyer, M., Corwin, C., Guthmiller, J., Lee, J., | 2012 | The impact of oral health literacy on periodontal health status | American Association of Public Health Dentistry | To describe the oral health literacy (OHL) among periodontal patients and to examine its association with periodontal health status | Adult patients | 121 | Convenience sample of adult patients presenting for initial consultation appointment to the University of North Carolina Graduate Periodontology Clinic | REALD-30 and survey and periodontal exam |
| Wong, H., Bridges, S., You. C., McGrath, C., Au, T., Parthasarathy, D. | 2012 | Development and validation of Hong Kong Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry | Journal of Investigative and Clinical Dentistry | To develop and validate an instrument , the Hong Kong Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry | Parents of paediatric dental patients | 200 | Convenience sample of parents of paediatric patients attending the Paediatric Dentistry Clinic in Hong Kong | REALD-99 translated to Chinese and modified to the HKREALD-30 and clinical examination |
| Bridges, S., Parthasarathy, D., Au, T., Wong, H., Yiu, C., McGrath, C. | 2013 | Development of functional oral health literacy assessment instruments: Application of literacy and cognitive theories | Journal of Public Health Dentistry | Development of a new literacy assessment instrument to establish content and face validity. | care givers of paediatric patients | Not specified | Various clinics and community settings in Hong Kong | HKOHLAT-P |
| Bridges, S., Parthasarathy, D., Wong, H., Yiu, C., Au, T., McGrath, C. | 2013 | The relationship between caregiver functional oral health literacy and child oral health status | Patient Education and Counselling | To describe the relationship between caregiver’s oral health literacy (OHL) and the oral health status of their children in an Asian population | care givers of paediatric patients | 301 | Child/caregiver dyads from kindergarten in Hong Kong | HKREALD-30 and HKOHLAT-P |
| Gironda, Der-Martirosian, C., Messadi, D., Holtzman, J. Atchinson, K. | 2013 | A brief 20-item dental/medical health literacy screen (REALMD-20) | Journal of Public Health Dentistry | To introduce a brief 20 item screener for limited dental/medical health literacy among adult dental patients | Adult patients seeking treatment for the first time | 200 | Patients seeking treatment for the first time at an Oral Diagnosis Clinic at a School of Dentistry in the US. | REALMD-20 |
| Hom, J., Lee, J., Divaris, K., Baker, A., Vann, W. | 2013 | Oral health literacy and knowledge among patients who are pregnant for the first time | The Journal of the American Dental Association | To determine the levels of and examine the associations of oral health literacy (OHL) and oral health knowledge in low income patients who were pregnant for the first time | Low income women pregnant for the first time | 119 | Subset of women pregnant for the first time in WIC project in North Carolina | REALD-30 and OHL survey |
| Jamieson, L., Divaris, K., Parker, E., Lee, J. | 2013 | Oral health literacy comparisons between Indigenous Australians and American Indians | Community Dental Health | To compare oral health literacy (OHL) levels between two profoundly disadvantaged groups, Indigenous Australians and American Indians and to explore the differences in socio-demographic, dental service utilisation, self-reported oral health indicators, and oral health-related quality of life correlates of OHL among the above. | Indigenous adults (Australia), American Indians (North Carolina) | 468 (Aus) 254 (USA) | Convenience sample of Indigenous adults living in the Port Augusta region of Australia and a convenience sample of caregivers attending the WIC clinics at selected sites in North Carolina | REALD-30 and OHP-14 |
| Jones, K., Parker, E., Mills, H., Horowitz, A., Brennan, D., Jamieson, L. | 2013 | Development and psychometric validation of a Health Literacy in Dentistry scale (HeLD) | Community Dental Health | To develop and validate a culturally-appropriate Health Literacy in Dentistry (HeLD) instrument for use amongst Indigenous Australians | Indigenous adults | 209 | Convenience sample of Indigenous adults living in the Port Augusta region of Australia | HeLD |
| Sistani, M., Montazeri, A., Yazdani, R., Murtomaa, H. | 2013 | New oral health literacy instrument for public health: development and pilot testing | Journal of Investigative and Clinical Dentistry | To develop a functional oral health literacy (OHL) instrument for adults including new measures of literacy skills (OHL-AQ) | Adult citizens living in Tehran | 97 | Randomly selected households in Tehran | OHL-AQ |
| Sistani, M., Yazdani, R. Virtanen, J., Pakdaman,A., Murtomaa, H. | 2013 | Determinants of oral health: Does oral health literacy matter? | ISRN Dentistry | To evaluate oral health literacy, independent of other oral health determinants , as a risk indicator for self-reported oral health | Adults living in Tehran | 1031 | Random area sampling in Tehran | OHL-AQ |
| Sistani, M., Yazdani, R. Virtanen, J., Pakdaman,A., Murtomaa, H. | 2013 | Oral health literacy and information sources among adults in Tehran, Iran | Community Dental Health | To assess oral health literacy level and oral health information of Iranian adults in Tehran, and to determine the factors related to oral health literacy | Adults | 1031 | Multi-stage random sample from Tehran, Iran | OHL-AQ |
| Ueno, M. Takeuchi, S., Oshiro, A., Kawaguchi, Y. | 2013 | Relationship between oral health literacy and oral health behaviors and clinical status in Japanese adults | Journal of Dental Sciences | To investigate how oral health literacy relates to oral health behaviors, as well as clinical dental and periodontal conditions. | Adult residents of Akita in Japan | 518 | Adult residents aged older than 20 living in Akita, Japan | Self administered questionnaire and dental exam |
| Wong, H., Bridges, S., Yiu, C., McGrath, C., Au, T., Parthasarathy, D., | 2013 | Validation of the Hong Kong Literacy Assessment Task for Paediatric Dentistry (HKOHLAT-P) | International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry | To validate an original instrument. The Hong Kong Oral Health Literacy Assessment Task (HKOHLAT-P) for paediatric dentistry | Parent/ Child dyads | 200 pairs | Convenience sample of 200 pairs of parents/children attending the Paediatric Dentistry Clinic in Hong Kong | HKOHLAT-P, ToFHLiD, ECO-HIS and interviews using HKREALD-30 |
| Holtzman, J., Atchison, J., Gironda, M., Radbod, R., Gornbein, J. | 2013 | The association between oral health literacy and failed appointments in adults attending a university-based general dental clinic | Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology | To determine the association between personal characteristics, a person’s oral health literacy and failing to show for dental appointments | Adults | 200 | Secondary analysis of 200 adult patients at a university dental clinic | REALM-D and socio-demographic survey |