ArticleJAMA1995
Inadequate functional health literacy among patients at two public hospitals.
Article in JAMA, 1995. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01932996 (Enhancing Smoking Cessation in the Homeless Population), which is not on this map. Cited by 263 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Enhancing Smoking Cessation in the Homeless Population
Who cites it
263 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Health in the 'hidden population' of people with low literacy. A systematic review of the literature.BMC public health · 2010Pooled it
- Addressing the knowledge and recruitment gap in Alzheimer's disease and precision medicine research among Native people: an innovative randomized controlled trial.Ethnicity & health · 2025Trial
- Psychoeducational intervention for people at high risk of developing another melanoma: a pilot randomised controlled trial.BMJ open · 2017Trial
- Improving patient knowledge of palliative care: A randomized controlled intervention study.Patient education and counseling · 2017Trial
- Motivational interviewing to improve self-care for patients with chronic heart failure: MITI-HF randomized controlled trial.Patient education and counseling · 2016Trial
- A group-randomized trial of shared decision making for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug risk awareness: primary results and lessons learned.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2014Trial
- Improving Diabetes Health Literacy by Animation.The Diabetes educator · 2014Trial
- The impact of health literacy on desire for participation in healthcare, medical visit communication, and patient reported outcomes among patients with hypertension.Journal of general internal medicine · 2013Trial
- The effect of progressive, reinforcing telephone education and counseling versus brief educational intervention on knowledge, self-care behaviors and heart failure symptoms.Journal of cardiac failure · 2011Trial
- ACCISS study rationale and design: activating collaborative cancer information service support for cervical cancer screening.BMC public health · 2009Trial
- The role of health literacy in treatment decision-making for patients with early-stage laryngeal cancer: a cross-sectional study.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2026Article
- Patient Safety Events Among People from Ethnic Minority Backgrounds: A Retrospective Medical Record Review of Australian Cancer Services.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Model of factors affecting self-management behaviors among pregnant women at risk of gestational diabetes mellitus, urban community in Bangkok: a structural equation modeling.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Reporting and representation of participant race and ethnicity in phase III clinical trials for solid tumors.Future science OA · 2025Article
- Reporting and representation of race and ethnicity data in phase III clinical trials for hematological malignancies.Future science OA · 2025Article
- What does it mean? Translating anatomical language to engage public audiences.Anatomical sciences education · 2025Review
- Integrating Social Determinants With the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide in a Study of Bipolar Outpatients.Suicide & life-threatening behavior · 2025Article
- Physical activity health literacy in patients with chronic diseases: a concept analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Context counts: a qualitative study on how adolescents activate social resources to develop and practice health literacy.BMC public health · 2024Article
- A health literacy analysis of online patient-directed educational materials about mycobacterium avium complex.Journal of clinical tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases · 2024Article
203 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo determine the ability of patients to complete successfully basic reading and numeracy tasks required to function adequately in the health care setting.
designCross-sectional survey.
settingTwo urban, public hospitals. PATIENTS: A total of 2659 predominantly indigent and minority patients, 1892 English-speaking and 767 Spanish-speaking, presenting for acute care.
main outcome measureFunctional health literacy as measured by the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA), an instrument that measures ability to read and understand medical instructions and health care information presented in prose passages and passages containing numerical information (eg, prescription bottle labels and appointment slips).
resultsA high proportion of patients were unable to read and understand written basic medical instructions. Of 2659 patients, 1106 (41.6%) were unable to comprehend directions for taking medication on an empty stomach, 691 (26%) were unable to understand information regarding when a next appointment is scheduled, and 1582 (59.5%) could not understand a standard informed consent document. A total of 665 (35.1%) of 1892 English-speaking patients and 473 (61.7%) of 767 Spanish-speaking patients had inadequate or marginal functional health literacy. The prevalence of inadequate or marginal functional health literacy among the elderly (age > or = 60 years) was 81.3% (187/230) for English-speaking patients and 82.6% (57/69) for Spanish-speaking patients, and was significantly higher (P < .001) than in younger patients.
conclusionsMany patients at our institutions cannot perform the basic reading tasks required to function in the health care environment. Inadequate health literacy may be an important barrier to patients' understanding of their diagnoses and treatments, and to receiving high-quality care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
7474271What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.