Every Second Patient Does Not Fully Understand Written Preprocedure Information: An Explorative Study About Functional Health Literacy

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the self-perceived functional health literacy (FHL) of patients who underwent advanced endoscopic treatment, explore whether FHL could explain aspects of patients' perioperative experiences, and determine whether patients read the provided patient information.

Design

A prospective cross-sectional explorative study.

Methods

One hundred patients who underwent endoscopic bile duct intervention were enrolled and asked to answer the Swedish version of the FHL Scale and their perioperative experiences of the intervention. Along with procedural data, all data were analyzed for group comparisons; high or low FHL.

Findings

The study included a total of 100 patients, with half of them rating their FHL as problematic or inadequate (low FHL). Among those who perceived their FHL as inadequate, a majority had not read the provided information before the procedure. Patients with problematic or inadequate FHL experienced perioperative anxiety and pain more frequently than those with sufficient FHL (high FHL).

Conclusions

This study supports previous research on the association between low FHL and patients' well-being. To better meet patients' information needs, it is crucial for nurse anesthetists and other health care providers to have knowledge about FHL. Additionally, the study highlights the importance of using alternative and more effective means of delivering information to patients.