Table 5.
Health literacy definitions and assessment used in the studies
| Author (year) | Health literacy | Assessment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Literature referenced | Definition in the literature | ||
| Nakagami and Akashi (2010) |
Nutbeama (Nutbeam, 2000) Sperosb (Speros, 2005) Mancusoc (Mancuso, 2008) |
Abbreviated definition as stated in the paper: “‘Ability to acquire information relating to illness, medicine and health’ (information about medicine and health), ‘ability to compute’, ‘ability to read medical and health information’, ‘ability to understand medical and health information’, ‘ability to take the role of the patient’, and ‘ability to take appropriate decisions and to evaluate’” |
Explored via interviews |
| Murata (Murata et al., 2006) | “‘Reading and writing and computation’, ‘information acquisition’, ‘perception, cognition and understanding’. ‘analysis, selection and evaluation’, ‘action’, response’ and ‘provision to others’” | ||
| World Health Organisation (Nutbeam, 1998 | The cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health. | ||
| American Medical Association (Ad Hoc Committee on Health Literacy, 1999) | The constellation of skills, including the ability to perform basic reading and numeral tasks required to function in the healthcare environment | ||
| US Department of Health and Human Services (Healthy People, 2000) | The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions | ||
| Tecu and Potter (2012) | US Department of Health and Human Services (Healthy People, 2000) | As above | REALM‐SF |
| National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM, 2011) | Does not provide a unique definition of health literacy. References the US Department of Health and Human Services definition | ||
| McEwan et al (2014) | None |
Risk factors, symptom interpretation and knowledge networks (authors’ definition). ‘Social ecological model’ (Scheidner,2006) |
Explored via interviews |
Original definition from Nutbeam (2000): “The personal, cognitive and social skills which determine the ability of individuals to gain access to, understand, and use information to promote and maintain good health.”
Speros 2005 does not provide a unique definition of health literacy and instead references the definitions provided by the World Health Organisation, American Medical Association, and US Department of Health and Human Services as above.
Original definition from Mancuso (2008): “A process that evolves over one's lifetime and encompasses the attributes of capacity, comprehension, and communication. The attributes of health literacy are integrated within and preceded by the skills, strategies, and abilities embedded within the competencies needed to attain health literacy.”