Abstract
One in six adults in the United States have low health literacy skills, and those with low health literacy are four times more likely to report fair or poor health in comparison with adults who are highly skilled (OECD, Time for the U.S. to reskill? : what the survey of adult skills says. OECD, Paris, 2013). Lower levels of health literacy are found among ethnic and racial minorities, with one in three Black adults and one in two Hispanic adults scoring in the low-health-literacy range in comparison with one in ten White adults (OECD, Time for the U.S. to reskill? : what the survey of adult skills says. OECD, Paris, 2013). Black and Hispanic adults are overrepresented in the low-skilled population. Because low health literacy has been found to disproportionately affect marginalized populations, it is likely that health literacy is implicated in the health disparities prevalent in ethnic/racial minorities. There is a health literacy crisis in the United States that is associated with poor health status, chronic medical conditions, and reduced likelihood of using preventative care. Addressing health literacy can reduce health disparities and improve the overall quality of healthcare for all patients. The aim of this chapter is to provide guidance for primary care and behavioral health providers in utilizing health literacy to prevent physical problems and achieve optimal health outcomes.
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Vechiu, C., Mosqueda, A.I. (2021). Health Literacy. In: O’Donohue, W., Zimmermann, M. (eds) Handbook of Evidence-Based Prevention of Behavioral Disorders in Integrated Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83469-2_19
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