Table 2.
Performance on three health literacy assessments, by selected characteristics (n=914)
| Characteristic | Confidence filling out forms | REALM scores | Short-TOFHLA scores | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low* | High† | 0–44‡ | 45–60 | 61–66 | 0–22¶ | 23–36 | |
| Frequency (row percentage) | |||||||
| Overall | 115 (12.6) | 799 (87.4) | 26 (2.8) | 167 (18.3) | 721 (78.9) | 55 (6.0) | 859 (94.0) |
| Recruitment site | |||||||
| Maryland | 63 (14.1) | 385 (85.9) | 12 (2.7) | 84 (18.7) | 352 (78.6) | 29 (6.5) | 419 (93.5) |
| California | 52 (11.2) | 414 (88.8) | 14 (3.0) | 83 (17.8) | 369 (79.2) | 26 (5.6) | 440 (94.4) |
| Age | |||||||
| 18–24 | 8 (11.1) | 64 (88.9) | 1 (1.4) | 20 (27.8) | 51 (70.8) | 0 (0.0) | 72 (100.0) |
| 25–44 years | 32 (9.9) | 291 (90.1) | 3 (1.0) | 56 (17.3) | 264 (81.7) | 9 (2.8) | 314 (97.2) |
| 45–64 years | 53 (13.3) | 344 (86.7) | 14 (3.5) | 77 (19.4) | 306 (77.1) | 29 (7.3) | 368 (92.7) |
| 65 years or greater | 22 (18.0) | 100 (82.0) | 8 (6.6) | 14 (11.5) | 100 (81.9) | 17 (13.9) | 105 (86.1) |
| Gender | |||||||
| Male | 52 (11.7) | 391 (88.3) | 13 (2.9) | 87 (19.7) | 343 (77.4) | 34 (7.7) | 409 (92.3) |
| Female | 63 (13.4) | 408 (86.6) | 13 (2.8) | 80 (17.0) | 378 (80.2) | 21 (4.5) | 450 (95.5) |
| Race/ethnicity | |||||||
| Non-Hispanic white | 37 (10.6) | 312 (89.4) | 8 (2.3) | 41 (11.7) | 300 (86.0) | 9 (2.6) | 340 (97.4) |
| Non-Hispanic black | 49 (14.8) | 283 (85.2) | 12 (3.6) | 73 (22.0) | 247 (74.4) | 26 (7.8) | 306 (92.2) |
| Non-Hispanic Asian | 1 (2.6) | 38 (97.4) | 1 (2.6) | 9 (23.1) | 29 (74.3) | 1 (2.6) | 38 (97.4) |
| Non-Hispanic other | 10 (14.5) | 59 (85.5) | 0 (0.0) | 11 (15.9) | 58 (84.1) | 5 (7.2) | 64 (92.8) |
| Hispanic | 18 (14.4) | 107 (85.6) | 5 (4.0) | 33 (26.4) | 87 (69.6) | 14 (11.2) | 111 (88.8) |
| Multiple languages spoken now / languages spoken as a child | |||||||
| No / English only | 81 (13.5) | 519 (86.5) | 17 (2.8) | 92 (15.3) | 491 (81.8) | 36 (6.0) | 564 (94.0) |
| Yes / English only | 10 (9.1) | 100 (90.9) | 1 (0.9) | 11 (10.0) | 98 (89.1) | 0 (0.0) | 110 (100.0) |
| Yes / English and other | 10 (11.8) | 75 (88.2) | 0 (0.0) | 16 (18.8) | 69 (81.2) | 3 (3.5) | 82 (96.5) |
| Yes / Other than English | 14 (11.8) | 105 (88.2) | 8 (6.7) | 48 (40.4) | 63 (52.9) | 16 (13.4) | 103 (86.6) |
| Education level | |||||||
| Less than 12 years | 17 (23.3) | 56 (76.7) | 9 (12.3) | 20 (27.4) | 44 (60.3) | 11 (15.1) | 62 (84.9) |
| 12 years of GED | 51 (22.3) | 178 (77.7) | 8 (3.5) | 57 (24.9) | 164 (71.6) | 22 (9.6) | 207 (90.4) |
| Some college | 29 (10.3) | 253 (89.7) | 5 (1.8) | 52 (18.4) | 225 (79.8) | 12 (4.3) | 270 (95.7) |
| College graduate | 18 (5.4) | 312 (94.6) | 4 (1.2) | 38 (11.5) | 288 (87.3) | 10 (3.0) | 320 (97.0) |
| Annual household income | |||||||
| $0–$22,000 | 43 (14.6) | 251 (85.4) | 12 (4.1) | 60 (20.4) | 222 (75.5) | 13 (4.4) | 281 (95.6) |
| $22,001–$44,000 | 33 (12.4) | 234 (87.6) | 8 (3.0) | 46 (17.2) | 213 (79.8) | 21 (7.9) | 246 (92.1) |
| $44,001 or greater | 22 (8.8) | 229 (91.2) | 2 (0.8) | 42 (16.7) | 207 (82.5) | 10 (4.0) | 241 (96.0) |
| Undetermined | 17 (16.7) | 85 (83.3) | 4 (3.9) | 19 (18.6) | 79 (77.5) | 11 (10.8) | 91 (89.2) |
| Marital status | |||||||
| Married or co-habitating | 46 (14.1) | 280 (85.9) | 15 (4.6) | 63 (19.3) | 248 (76.1) | 27 (8.3) | 299 (91.7) |
| Widowed, divorced, or separated | 28 (12.3) | 199 (87.7) | 7 (3.1) | 42 (18.5) | 178 (78.4) | 16 (7.0) | 211 (93.0) |
| Never married | 41 (11.4) | 320 (88.6) | 4 (1.1) | 62 (17.2) | 295 (81.7) | 12 (3.3) | 349 (96.7) |
| Private dental insurance | |||||||
| Yes | 41 (11.7) | 308 (88.3) | 13 (3.7) | 65 (18.6) | 271 (77.7) | 22 (6.3) | 327 (93.7) |
| No | 74 (13.1) | 491 (86.9) | 13 (2.3) | 102 (18.0) | 450 (79.7) | 33 (5.8) | 532 (94.2) |
Note: Statistically significant associations (P<0.05) listed in bold
*
Low = “Somewhat”, “A little bit”, and “Not at all”
†
High = “Quite a bit” and “Extremely”
‡
Two lowest categories of REALM scores combined due to small cell size
¶
Two lowest categories of Short-TOFHLA scores combined due to small cell size