Health Literacy Interventions in Cancer: a Systematic Review
- PDF / 437,657 Bytes
- 13 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 89 Downloads / 228 Views
Health Literacy Interventions in Cancer: a Systematic Review A. J. Housten 1
&
C. M. Gunn 2 & M. K. Paasche-Orlow 2 & K. M. Basen-Engquist 3
Accepted: 27 October 2020 # American Association for Cancer Education 2020
Abstract Approximately one-third of adults in the United States (U.S.) have limited health literacy. Those with limited health literacy often have difficultly navigating the health care environment, including navigating care across the cancer continuum (e.g., prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment). Evidence-based interventions to assist adults with limited health literacy improve health outcomes; however, little is known about health literacy interventions in the context of cancer and their impact on cancer-specific health outcomes. The purpose of this review was to identify and characterize the literature on health literacy interventions across the cancer care continuum. Specifically, our aim was to review the strength of evidence, outcomes assessed, and intervention modalities within the existing literature reporting health literacy interventions in cancer. Our search yielded 1036 records (prevention/screening n = 174; diagnosis/treatment n = 862). Following deduplication and review for inclusion criteria, we analyzed 87 records of intervention studies reporting health literacy outcomes, including 45 pilot studies (prevention/screening n = 24; diagnosis/treatment n = 21) and 42 randomized controlled trials or quasi-experimental trials (prevention/screening n = 31; diagnosis/treatment n = 11). This literature included 36 unique interventions (prevention/screening n = 28; diagnosis/treatment n = 8), mostly in the formative stages of intervention development, with few assessments of evidence-based interventions. These gaps in the literature necessitate further research in the development and implementation of evidence-based health literacy interventions to improve cancer outcomes. Keywords Neoplasms . Cancer . Oncology . Health literacy
Introduction Cancer incidence and mortality inequities persist [1]. With almost 2 million new cancer cases diagnosed in the United States (U.S.) in 2019, cancer burden disproportionately impacts those with low socioeconomic status and racial/ethnic minorities [1–3]. Those who experience inequity in cancer incidence and outcomes are also those who are most at-risk for limited health literacy [1–4], defined as the collection of skills needed to navigate and function in the health care
* A. J. Housten [email protected] 1
Department of Surgery, Division of Public Health Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave. Campus Box 8100, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
2
Section of General Internal Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
3
Department of Behavioral Science, Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
system [4, 5]. Over one-third of adults in the U.S. have limited health literacy [6]. Those with limited health literacy have diff
Data Loading...
