2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Development of health literacy specific self-management programfor patients with heart failure

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23890214
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Clinical nursing
Research Institution	Tokyo Women's Medical University
Principal Investigator	MATSUOKA Shiho 東京女子医科大学, 看護学部, 助教 (30609938)
Research Collaborator	MAKAYA Miyuki 北里大学, 看護学部, 准教授 (60415552)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2012
Keywords	慢性心不全 / ヘルスリテラシー
Research Abstract	Health literacy (HL) is an important concept for patient education and disease management for heart failure (HF). WHO advocates evaluation of comprehensive HL, including the ability to access information (communicative HL) and critically evaluate this information (critical HL). We developed a tool for measuring three different level of HL, including functional, communicative, and critical HL among patients with HF. Our new HL scale was a reliable and valid tool for measuring functional, communicative, and critical HL in patients with HF. Moreover, this study determined the relationship between functional, communicative, and critical HL and self-care behavior in HF patients. Critical HL was independently associated with self-care behavior and QOL in HF patients. Effective intervention should be developed to improve patient skills for critically analyzing information and making decisions.