Protocol - Health Literacy
Description
The protocol includes three items designed to assess an English-speaking adult‘s ability to read and understand medical forms and materials. These questions could help health professionals understand the adult‘s health literacy and are based on the Brief Health Literacy Survey (BHLS).
Specific Instructions
None
Availability
This protocol is freely available; permission not required for use.
Protocol
1. How confident are you filling out medical forms by yourself?
[ ] Extremely
[ ] Quite a bit
[ ] Somewhat
[ ] A little bit
[ ] Not at all
2. How often do you have someone help you read health-related materials?
[ ] Always
[ ] Often
[ ] Sometimes
[ ] Occasionally
[ ] Never
3. How often do you have problems learning about your medical condition because of difficulty understanding written information?
[ ] Always
[ ] Often
[ ] Sometimes
[ ] Occasionally
[ ] Never
Personnel and Training Required
NoneEquipment Needs
PhenX acknowledges that these questions can be administered in a computerized or noncomputerized format (i.e., paper-and-pencil instrument). Computer software is necessary to develop computer-assisted instruments. The individual will require a laptop computer or handheld computer to respond to a computer-assisted questionnaire.Requirements
Requirement Category | Required |
---|---|
Major equipment | No |
Specialized training | No |
Specialized requirements for biospecimen collection | No |
Average time of greater than 15 minutes in an unaffected individual | No |
Mode of Administration
Self-administered questionnaire
Lifestage
Adult, Senior, Pregnancy
Participants
Adults
Selection Rationale
This protocol was selected because of its good reliability and validity, ease of administration, and use by the All of Us Research Program.
Language
English, Spanish
Standards
Standard | Name | ID | Source |
---|
Derived Variables
None
Process and Review
The PhenX Steering Committee reviewed this protocol in April 2025. Guidance from Steering Committee includes:
- Replaced protocol
- New Data Dictionary
Protocol Name from Source
All of Us Research Program, Participant Provided Information (PPI), 2017
Source
All of Us — Participant Provided Information — Overall Health (this version was approved by the Institutional Review Board on May 20, 2017)General References
Sand-Jecklin, K., & Coyle, S. (2014). Brief Health Literacy Screen (BHLS) [Database record]. APA PsycTests. https://doi.org/10.1037/t37729-000
Chew LD, Bradley KA, Boyko EJ. Brief questions to identify patients with inadequate health literacy. Fam Med. 2004 Sep;36(8):588-94. PMID: 15343421.
Osborn, C. Y., Wallston, K. A., Shpigel, A., Cavanaugh, K., Kripalani, S., & Rothman, R. L. (2013). Development and validation of the General Health Numeracy Test (GHNT). Patient education and counseling, 91(3), 350-356.
Sarkar, U., Schillinger, D., López, A., & Sudore, R. (2011). Validation of self-reported health literacy questions among diverse English and Spanish-speaking populations. Journal of general internal medicine, 26(3), 265-271.
Schillinger D1, Grumbach K, Piette J, Wang F, Osmond D, Daher C, Palacios J, Sullivan GD, Bindman AB. (2002). Association of health literacy with diabetes outcomes. JAMA, 288(4):475-82.
Protocol ID
270402
Variables
Export VariablesVariable Name | Variable ID | Variable Description | dbGaP Mapping | |
---|---|---|---|---|
PX270402_Health_Literacy_Confidence_Completing | ||||
PX270402010000 | How confident are you filling out medical more | N/A | ||
PX270402_Health_Literacy_Difficulty_Understanding | ||||
PX270402030000 | How often do you have problems learning more | N/A | ||
PX270402_Health_Literacy_Help_Reading | ||||
PX270402020000 | How often do you have someone help you read more | N/A |
Measure Name
Health Literacy
Release Date
June 6, 2025
Definition
This questionnaire is used to assess an adult’s health literacy level, the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.
Purpose
This measure can be used to evaluate an individual’s health literacy level. Low health literacy is associated with not understanding health and disease information, difficulties following medical instructions and scheduling preventive and routine appointments, increased hospitalizations and medical costs, and ultimately higher mortality rates.
Keywords
All of Us Research Program, Health Literacy Screening, Social Determinants of Health, Understanding medical language, Medical information, Health information
Measure Protocols
Protocol ID | Protocol Name |
---|---|
270402 | Health Literacy |