Development of a Spanish Health Literacy Assessment Tool

描述：(改编自申请书)申请者的目的是为讲西班牙语的人口开发一种健康素养评估工具。具体地说，申请者的目的是验证将根据成人医学扫盲快速评估(REAL)开发的评估工具，该工具被认为是评估英语健康素养的最有效和最容易管理的工具。新的评估工具，我们称之为西班牙成人医学扫盲快速评估(S领域)，涉及测试该工具，并将其与其他健康素养评估工具进行比较，从北卡罗来纳大学医院的门诊护理中心招募200名讲西班牙语和说英语的受试者作为样本。 在过去的几年里，人们越来越关注健康素养低及其造成的健康损失，社会对此日益关注。研究表明，低健康素养可能与低健康状况和高住院率有关。鉴于我国拉美裔居民的快速增长，开发可靠且易于使用的西班牙语健康素养评估工具怎么强调都不为过。我们预计S领域需要大约5分钟的时间来管理。因此，卫生专业人员可以在诊所和公共卫生环境中使用它来评估西班牙语患者的健康素养水平。这会提高卫生专业人员的素质吗？能够与讲西班牙语的患者沟通，从而为他们提供更好的医疗服务。此外，S领域可以作为当地拉美裔社区的健康素养筛查工具。这一结果将提高我们对拉美裔居民特定健康和个人需求的了解，并帮助政策制定者、研究人员和社区团体设计适合这一服务不足人群的健康素养水平的干预和教育计划。

DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from the Application) The purpose of the applicant is to develop a health literacy assessment tool for the Spanish-speaking population. Specifically, the applicant is intended to validate an assessment tool to be developed based on the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM), which is known to be the most efficient and easily administered tool to assess health literacy in English. The validation of the new assessment tool, which we term the Spanish Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (S-REALM), involves testing and comparing the tool with other health literacy assessment instruments in a sample of 200 Spanish-speaking and 200 English-speaking subjects to be recruited from the Ambulatory Care Center at the University of North Carolina Hospitals. The past several years have witnessed a growing societal concern with low health literacy and its health toll. Research has shown that low health literacy may be associated with low health status and increased rates of hospitalization. Given the rapid growth of Hispanic residents in our nation, the development of a reliable and easy-to-use health literacy assessment tool in Spanish cannot be overemphasized. We anticipate that the S-REALM will take about 5 minutes to administer. Therefore, health professionals can use it in clinics and public health settings to assess the health literacy level of Spanish-speaking patients. This will enhance health professionals? ability to communicate with, and, thus, deliver better medical services, to Spanish-speaking patients. Moverover, the S-REALM can be used as a health literacy screening tool in local Hispanic communities. The result will improve our understanding of the specific health and personal needs of Hispanic residents and help policy makers, researchers, and community groups design intervention and educational programs that suit the health literacy level of this under-served population.