ArticlePloS one2015
Health literacy and patient empowerment: separating con-joined twins in the context of chronic low back pain.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A conceptual model of functional health literacy to improve chronic airway disease outcomes.BMC public health · 2021Pooled it
- Clusters of Patient Empowerment and Mental Health Literacy Differentiate Professional Help-Seeking Attitudes in Online Mental Health Communities Users.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Article
- Development of the health literacy assessment instrument for chronic pain patients: A Delphi study.Nursing open · 2023Article
- Health literacy and health outcomes in patients with low back pain: a scoping review.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2021Article
- [Prevention of chronic pain in the German healthcare system : Current state and perspective].Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2021Review
- Self-Healing: A Concept for Musculoskeletal Body Pain Management - Scientific Evidence and Mode of Action.Journal of pain research · 2021Review
- Development and Validation of the Health Literacy Assessment Instrument for Patients with Chronic Pain.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2021Article
- Non-health outcomes affecting self-care behaviors and medical decision-making preference in patients with type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2020Article
- Effects of eHealth Literacy on General Practitioner Consultations: A Mediation Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesWhile health literacy has been widely considered key to patient empowerment, an alternative approach separates both concepts and distinguishes between different types of patients according to their levels of health literacy and empowerment. These types are deemed to vary in their health-related actions and outcomes. In this study, we examine the relationship between health literacy and patient empowerment and compare socio-demographic characteristics, health-related activities, and health outcomes in four types of patients suffering from chronic low back pain (cLBP).
methodsIn a cross-sectional study, 273 cLBP patients from four Swiss cantons (Vaud, Geneva, Fribourg, Ticino) and Lombardy (Italy) were invited by their healthcare providers to complete a self-administered paper-and-pencil questionnaire which assessed patients' health literacy, empowerment, involvement in the medical encounter, medication non-adherence, and perceived pain and functionality as a measure of health outcomes.
resultsHealth literacy and patient empowerment were not significantly correlated with each other, r(271) = .09, p > .05, allowing to differentiate between four types of patients based on their levels of health literacy and patient empowerment. Subsequent chi-square tests and analyses of variances revealed significant differences among patients that could, however, only be attributed to health literacy, as in the case of age and educational attainment, or patient empowerment, as in the case of patients' involvement in the medical encounter. No significant differences were evident for gender, medication non-adherence, and health outcomes.
conclusionThe study provides empirical evidence for the need to consider health literacy and patient empowerment as independent concepts in the context of cLBP but calls for further studies to be able to conclude on how the two concepts interact and determine health-related activities and outcomes.
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