An Exploratory Study of Health Literacy and African American Adolescents

ABSTRACT Adolescents are increasingly involved with their health care, but little information is available about the health literacy of adolescents from vulnerable populations. Although African American youth are significantly impacted by health disparities, there is almost no research on African American youth and health literacy. This exploratory study conducted 48 semi-structured interviews with African American adolescents ages 14 to 17 in the United States. The interview questions addressed use of mass media, experience and preferences getting health information, and interactions with health care providers. We also administered the Rapid Estimate of Adolescent Literacy in Medicine (REALM-Teen). We found that 65% of the sample had low health literacy. We also found important differences by health literacy level for three health literacy domains for health information: obtain, understand, and process. Respondents with lower health literacy reported having more trouble understanding information from health providers and had a greater reliance on a caregiver for information exchange during health care visits. Our findings also suggest that health literacy was related to health information seeking from family sources. Youth with low health literacy reported less internet use in general and were more likely to need help understanding health information they obtained on their own. Study results suggest health literacy impacts health care experiences for African American youth. Nurses and other health providers can help facilitate health care encounters for African American youth with low health literacy, and more research is needed to better understand how low health literacy influences health behaviors and outcomes.