BackgroundReading skills are important for accessing health information, using health care services, managing one's health and achieving desirable health outcomes. Our objective was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the Single Item Literacy Screener (SILS) to identify limited reading ability, one component of health literacy, as measured by the S-TOFHLA.MethodsCross-sectional interview with 999 adults with diabetes residing in Vermont and bordering states. Participants were randomly recruited from Primary Care practices in the Vermont Diabetes Information System June 2003 – December 2004. The main outcome was limited reading ability. The primary predictor was the SILS.ResultsOf the 999 persons screened, 169 (17%) had limited reading ability. The sensitivity of the SILS in detecting limited reading ability was 54% [95% CI: 47%, 61%] and the specificity was 83% [95% CI: 81%, 86%] with an area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics Curve (ROC) of 0.73 [95% CI: 0.69, 0.78]. Seven hundred seventy (77%) screened negative on the SILS and 692 of these subjects had adequate reading skills (negative predictive value = 0.90 [95% CI: 0.88, 0.92]). Of the 229 who scored positive on the SILS, 92 had limited reading ability (positive predictive value = 0.4 [95% CI: 0.34, 0.47]).ConclusionThe SILS is a simple instrument designed to identify patients with limited reading ability who need help reading health-related materials. The SILS performs moderately well at ruling out limited reading ability in adults and allows providers to target additional assessment of health literacy skills to those most in need. Further study of the use of the SILS in clinical settings and with more diverse populations is warranted.

Background: Inconsistent findings reported in the literature contribute to the lack of complete understanding of the association of literacy with health outcomes. We evaluated the association between literacy, physiologic control and diabetes complications among adults with diabetes.

Using a multidimensional assessment of health literacy (the Cancer Message Literacy Test-Listening, the Cancer Message Literacy Test-Reading, and the Lipkus Numeracy Scale), the authors assessed a stratified random sample of 1013 insured adults (40–70 years of age). The authors explored whether low health literacy across all 3 domains (n = 111) was associated with sets of variables likely to affect engagement in cancer prevention and screening activities: (a) attitudes and behaviors relating to health care encounters and providers, (b) attitudes toward cancer and health, (c) knowledge of cancer screening tests, and (d) attitudes toward health related media and actual media use. Adults with low health literacy were more likely to report avoiding doctor's visits, to have more fatalistic attitudes toward cancer, to be less accurate in identifying the purpose of cancer screening tests, and more likely to avoid information about diseases they did not have. Compared with other participants, those with lower health literacy were more likely to say that they would seek information about cancer prevention or screening from a health care professional and less likely to turn to the Internet first for such information. Those with lower health literacy reported reading on fewer days and using the computer on fewer days than did other participants. The authors assessed the association of low health literacy with colorectal cancer screening in an age-appropriate subgroup for which colorectal cancer screening is recommended. In these insured subjects receiving care in integrated health care delivery systems, those with low health literacy were less likely to be up to date on screening for colorectal cancer, but the difference was not statistically significant.

Background: Although reading ability may impact educational strategies and management of heart failure (HF), the prevalence of limited literacy in patients with HF is unknown.

Purpose The aim of this review was to integrate empirical and theoretical literature on fatigue among adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). A methodological review using an integrative approach was used. Databases MEDLINE via Pubmed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Science Direct were searched for peer-reviewed articles published in English from 2007-2017, using the following search terms and Boolean operators: "Type 1 Diabetes" and "Fatigue." Of 199 articles initially retrieved, 14 were chosen for inclusion. These articles included 13 quantitative (7 cross-sectional, 2 cohort, 2 secondary data analyses, 2 experimental) and 1 qualitative phenomenology. Fatigue was identified as one of the most troublesome symptoms reported in persons with T1DM. Four main themes emerged: fatigue in T1DM is multidimensional and related to psychological, physiological, situational, and sociodemographic factors. Conclusions Fatigue is considered a classic symptom of hyperglycemia; however, there were minimal data to support the theory that fatigue is related to hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. Studies on fatigue among persons with T1DM are limited to small samples and cross-sectional designs with few randomized controlled trials addressing fatigue and diabetes-related symptoms. Evidence is conflicting regarding the onset of fatigue among persons with T1DM and the relationship between fatigue and diabetes duration. The prevalence of fatigue is likely influenced by disease physiology, psychological stress, and lifestyle factors, but more research is needed to confirm these relationships as causal inference is unclear.