Faculty Bibliography

The chapters and reports in this book explore a wide variety of topics related to how health literacy can impact clinical practice and public health. While health literacy is relevant to healthcare issues across populations, it has unique implications in the field of pediatrics, where parents and other caregivers are responsible for managing their child's healthcare. Younger children have varying roles and involvement; over time, as children reach adolescence, they have an increasing understanding of and participation in their healthcare. This chapter will review the epidemiology of health literacy in parents, adolescents, and children, and how this compares to the general adult population. It will highlight unique considerations regarding health literacy and pediatric health. The chapter will then focus on the impact of health literacy and relevant health literacy-informed interventions on pediatric health. Finally, the chapter will discuss gaps in the literature and future directions.

Objective: Access to evidence-based psychosocial interventions for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a challenge in urban, socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. Approaches that leverage existing but underdeveloped workforces and connects these with well-established settings that treat ADHD offers an opportunity to address this barrier. This pilot study focused on a preliminary test of the potential utility of paraprofessional-delivered behavioral parent training (BPT) to parents of children with ADHD being treated in a developmental behavioral pediatric practice. Method: In an open clinical trial of 7 families, Family Peer Advocate paraprofessionals delivered BPT to parents of children with ADHD. Parent reports of their child's ADHD symptoms/ oppositional defiant behaviors and functional impairment were assessed before, weekly during BPT, and immediately after BPT. Parents report of their positive and negative parenting behaviors were assessed before and immediately after BPT. Results: Findings demonstrated that participation in BPT was associated with improvements in child-and parent-level outcomes, with moderate to large effects across outcomes. Conclusions: Integrating existing service systems with oversight through pediatric psychologists offers opportunities to efficiently utilize resources, thereby increasing access to evidence-based interventions for ADHD in urban, socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. This study advances the scope of paraprofessional involvement in formal pediatric settings. In addition, it highlights the potential effectiveness of peer-to-peer delivered services.

OBJECTIVE:Inpatient discharge education is often suboptimal. Measures of parents' perceived comprehension of discharge instructions are included in national metrics given linkage to morbidity; few studies compare parents' perceived and actual comprehension. We (1) compared parent perceived and actual comprehension of discharge instructions and (2) assessed associations between plan complexity and parent health literacy with overestimation of comprehension (perceive comprehension but lack actual comprehension). METHODS:Prospective cohort study of English/Spanish-speaking parents (n=192) of inpatients ≤12 years old and discharged on ≥1 daily medication from an urban public hospital. We used McNemar's tests to compare parent perceived (agree/strongly agree on 5-point Likert scale) and actual comprehension (concordance of parent report with medical record) of instructions (domains: medications, appointments, return precautions, and restrictions). Generalized estimating equations were performed to assess associations between low parent health literacy (Newest Vital Sign score ≤3) and plan complexity with overestimation of comprehension. RESULTS:Medication side effects were the domain with lowest perceived comprehension (80%), while >95% of parents perceived comprehension for other domains. Actual comprehension varied by domain (41-87%) and was lower than perceived comprehension. Most (84%) parents overestimated comprehension in ≥1 domain. Plan complexity (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 3.6 [95% CI 2.9-4.7]) and low health literacy (aOR 1.9 [1.3-2.6]) were associated with overestimation of comprehension. CONCLUSIONS:Parental perceived comprehension of discharge instructions overestimated actual comprehension in most domains. Plan complexity and low health literacy were associated with overestimation of comprehension. Future interventions should incorporate assessment of actual comprehension and standardization of discharge instructions.

OBJECTIVE:Parent use of technology to manage child health issues has the potential to improve access and health outcomes. Few studies have examined how parent health literacy affects usage of Internet and cell phone technologies for health management. METHODS:Cross-sectional analysis of data collected as part of a randomized controlled experiment in 3 urban pediatric clinics. English- and Spanish-speaking parents (n=858) of children ≤8 years answered questions regarding use of and preferences related to Internet and cell phone technologies. Parent health literacy was measured using the Newest Vital Sign. RESULTS:The majority of parents were high Internet (70.2%) and cell phone (85.1%) utilizers (multiple times a day). 75.1% had limited health literacy (32.1% marginal, 43.0% low). Parents with higher health literacy had greater Internet and cell phone use (adequate vs. low: AOR=1.7[1.2-2.5]) and were more likely to use them for health management (AOR=1.5[1.2-1.8]); those with higher health literacy were more likely to use the Internet for provider communication (adequate vs. marginal vs. low: 25.0 vs. 18.0 vs. 12.0%, p=0.001) and health-related cell phone apps (40.6 vs. 29.7 vs. 16.4%, p<0.001). Overall preference for using technology for provider communication was high (∼70%) and did not differ by health literacy, although Internet and cell phone apps were preferred by higher literacy parents; no differences seen for texting. CONCLUSIONS:Health literacy-associated disparities in parent use of Internet and cell phone technologies exist, but parents' desire for use of these technologies for provider communication was overall high and did not differ by health literacy.

Children from low-income families are more likely than their higher income peers to show delays in language and literacy skills, both at school entry and across the lifespan. Programs aimed at promoting language and literacy activities in the home, particularly programs that combine distribution of print materials with support and guidance for using them, have been effective in decreasing the word gap, leading to increased school readiness and early literacy. The current study examined the impact of such a program based in pediatric healthcare, Reach Out and Read (ROR), on parents' use of community resources that also provide access to print-namely, the public library-in the context of a citywide initiative to link literacy resources for low-income families. Effects of both ROR and the library, both individually and combined, on parents' literacy activities at home were then examined. Significant associations between receiving ROR, using the public library, and parent-child book sharing were found. Implications for intervention and policy are discussed.