Analysis of methods for the assessment of patients' health literacy and skin cancer

Abstract

Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Skin cancer can largely be prevented by avoiding exposure to unsafe ultraviolet radiation. The attention given to health literacy is growing, but its impact on decision-making on sunbathing has not yet been sufficiently researched. Aim of the study: To explore and show the methods for the assessment of health literacy of patients in relation to skin cancer and sun protection, and the specific aim is the analysis of instruments for the quantitative assessment of health literacy. Materials and Methods: The collection of publications related to health literacy of patients and skin cancer was performed by literature search, and the content and description were given for each instrument that used for the estimation of health literacy of respondents regarding skin cancer. The comparison of the three instruments out of ten that are described in our work was done by the method of comparison. S-TOFHLA, CHLCC and Braun and Clarke's (2006) six-phase thematic analysis methods are the instruments used to analyze health literacy of respondents regarding skin cancer. However, in two papers three questions taken from the S-TOFHLA test were used in order to assess the general health literacy of patients. Most often quantitative and qualitative analyses were used. Our work shows that there is an initiative in the world to raise the awareness of health literacy regarding the risk of developing skin cancer, through the use of several types of instruments, which causes the change in tanning-related attitudes and the intent on changing behaviour regarding protection from sun exposure.

Zdravstvena pismenost predstavlja stepen u kojem pojedinci imaju sposobnost da prime, obrade i razumeju osnovnu zdravstvenu informaciju i usluge neophodne da se donesu odgovarajuće zdravstvene odluke. Rak kože se u velikoj meri može sprečiti izbegavanjem izlaganja nebezbednom ultraljubičastom zračenju. Zdravstvena pismenost poprima sve veću pažnju, ali njen uticaj na donošenje odluka o sunčanju još uvek nije dovoljno istražen. Cilj rada: Istražiti i prikazati metode za procenu zdravstvene pismenosti pacijenata u vezi sa rakom kože i zaštite od sunca, a specifičan cilj je analiza instrumenata za kvantitativnu procenu zdravstvene pismenosti. Materijal i metode: Prikupljanje publikacija u vezi sa zdravstvenom pismenošću pacijenata i rakom kože izvršeno je pretragom literature, a za svaki instrument kojim se vrši procena zdravstvene pismenosti ispitanika u vezi sa rakom kože dat je njegov sadržaj i opis. Metodom komparacije urađeno je poređenje tri instrumenta od ukupno deset koji su opisani u našem radu. S-TOFHLA, CHLCC i Braun i Clarke (2006) metode 6-fazne tematske analize su instrumenti korišćeni za analizu zdravstvene pismenosti ispitanika u vezi sa rakom kože. Međutim, u dva rada su iskorišćena tri pitanja preuzeta iz S-TOFHLA testa sa ciljem procene opšte zdravstvene pismenosti pacijenata. Najčešće je korišćena i kvantitativna i kvalitativna analiza. Naš rad pokazuje da postoji inicijativa u svetu za podizanjem svesti i zdravstvene pismenosti u vezi sa rizikom od oboljevanja od raka kože preko korišćenja nekoliko tipova instrumenata, što rezultuje promenom stavova u vezi sunčanja i sticanja tena i namerom o promeni ponašanja u vezi zaštite od izlaganju suncu.