Table 2.
Exact wording and frequencies for health literacy items.
| Exact Item Wording | % Correct (n = 869) |
|---|---|
| Newest Vital Sign | % Correct |
| 1. If you eat the entire container, how many calories will you eat? | 96% |
| 2. If you are allowed to eat 60 g of carbohydrates as a snack, how much ice cream could you have? | 53% |
| 3. Your doctor asks you to reduce the amount of saturated fat in your diet. You usually have 42 g of saturated fat each day, which includes 1 serving of ice cream. If you stop eating ice cream, how many grams of saturated fat would you be consuming each day? | 87% |
| 4. If you usually eat 2500 calories in a day, what percentage of your daily value of calories will you be eating if you eat one serving? | 89% |
| 5. For the next two questions, pretend that you are allergic to the following substances: penicillin, peanuts, latex gloves, and bee stings. Is it safe for you to eat this ice cream? | 89% |
| 6. If no, why not? | 88% |
| Average total number correct and standard deviation | 5.0 (1.2) |
| Water Environmental Literacy Level Scale | |
| a. How many ppb of arsenic is safe for cooking? | 97% |
| b. How many ppb of arsenic in water is safe for domestic use? | 41% |
| c. Your well water test reports that your well water is not safe for drinking. What can you do? | 94% |
| d. Your water testing result shows arsenic at 50 ppb. How many milligrams (mg) is in one liter of your water? | 77% |
| e. Pretend that your household water contains 15ppb of arsenic. Is it safe for you and your pets to drink? | 96% |
| f. If no, why not? | 95% |
| Average total number correct and standard deviation | 5.0 (1.0) |
| Scoring. One point for each correct response. Scales range from 0–6. |
MTurk: Amazon Mechanical Turk.