The impact of caregiver health literacy on healthcare outcomes for low income minority children with asthma

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this exploratory study was to assess the impact of caregiver health literacy (HL) on health care outcomes for their child with asthma.

Methods: Caregiver dyads across two different healthcare delivery systems completed a battery of validated asthma outcome instruments, including the Newest Vital Sign™ as a measure of HL for the caregivers of children ages 7–18 y. Utilization history was obtained through the electronic medical record. Descriptive analysis with bivariate associations was conducted.

Results: There was no direct relationship between HL and asthma outcomes in the 34 Hispanic and African American caregiver-child dyads. However, caregiver health literacy was significantly related to language (p = 0.02). African American English-speaking caregivers, seen in an urban emergency department, demonstrated adequate health literacy. Hispanic Spanish-speaking caregivers, seeking care in a mobile asthma van, showed limited health literacy. There was no significant association between caregivers’ HL and routine asthma care visits when language and child age were controlled.

Conclusions: Assessing patient factors can identify persons at risk who need additional support to negotiate the healthcare system when providing care for a child with asthma.

Keywords:

• Health literacy
• asthma
• caregivers
• children
• health care utilization

Acknowledgment

We thank Amanda Saylor, MS, for her assistance with data collection.

Declaration of interest

Dr. Mosnaim receives research grant support from Astra Zeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Propeller Health; owns stock options in Electrocore; and serves as a consultant and/or member of a scientific advisory board for Electrocore, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Regeneron, Teva, Novartis, Astra Zeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim and Propeller Health. The following investigators: Dr. Belice, Dr. Galant, Dr. Kim, Dr. Shin, Dr. Pires-Barracosa, Dr. Hall, Dr. Malik, and Dr. Becker do not report conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Funding

Biostatistics assistance supported by University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Clinical and Translational Science, grant number UL1TR000050. This study is part of the Building Healthy Urban Communities Project funded by BMO Harris Bank.