Organizational Health Literacy in a Hospital—Insights on the Patients’ Perspective

Abstract

Health literacy-sensitive communication has been found to be an important dimension of organizational health literacy measured from the patients’ perspective. Little is known about the role of health literacy-sensitive communication in complex care structures. Therefore, our aim was to assess which hospital characteristics (in terms of process organization) and patient characteristics (e.g., age, chronic illness, etc.) contribute to better perceptions of health literacy-sensitive communication, as well as whether better health literacy-sensitive communication is associated with better patient reported experiences. Data were derived from a patient survey conducted in 2020 in four clinical departments of a university hospital in Germany. Health literacy-sensitive communication was measured with the HL-COM scale. Data from 209 patients (response rate 24.2%) were analyzed with a structural equation model (SEM). Results revealed that no patient characteristics were associated with HL-COM scores. Better process organization as perceived by patients was associated with significantly better HL-COM scores, and, in turn, better HL-COM scores were associated with more patient-reported social support provided by physicians and nurses as well as fewer unmet information needs. Investing into good process organization might improve health literacy-sensitive communication, which in turn has the potential to foster the patient–provider relationship as well as to reduce unmet information needs of patients.

Health Literacy Development among People with Chronic Diseases: Advancing the State of the Art and Learning from International Practices

“…The importance of developing health literacy research and practice from the patients’ perspective is revealed in “Organizational Health Literacy in a Hospital—Insights on the Patients’ Perspective” by Lubasch et al [ 21 ]. The authors investigate potential associations between individual patient characteristics, their perceptions, and health-literacy-sensitive communication by hospital staff and the respective organizational structures underlying such communication.…”

How to Measure Organizational Health Literacy?

“…Among the several criteria to describe OHL, "communication" seems to be the major and most common component in all studies. Possible benefit effects of HL-sensitive communication were examined in several studies [47] including specific groups such as cancer patients [48], culturally diverse patient groups [49], and concluded to be an important dimension of OHL.…”

“…Communication has been deeply examined as the main standard of OHL in this study in 2021 [47]. A sensitive communication approach was assessed from the perspective of the patients' health in complex care structures.…”

The Shift from Individual to Organizational Health Literacy: Implications for Kidney Healthcare Leaders and Clinicians

“…OHL describes an approach that healthcare organizations can take to make it easier for individuals to engage with healthcare providers and processes, navigate healthcare systems, understand health-related information, and have greater control of health-related decisions [27]. Health literate organizations strive to simplify their communications and verify comprehension with all consumers [28,29].…”