Poster Session #1: South UC Ballroom
Presentation Type
Poster
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Craig Ravesloot
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Psychology
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Health literacy (i.e., the ability to seek, use, and understand health related information) plays a paramount role in receiving quality health care. Lower health literacy levels have also been associated with worse overall health outcomes (Paasche-Orlow, 2007; Jordan, 2009). Interestingly, rural populations tend to have lower health literacy levels compared to their urban counterparts (Zahnd, 2009). Therefore the purpose of this study was to examine potential contributing factors to rural populate’s lower health literacy levels. Ten structured, qualitative interviews were conducted on rural residents from Powell, Sanders, Beaverhead, and Flathead counties who had been discharged from St. Patrick’s Hospital Missoula, Montana within the last year. The interview transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach and emergent themes were coded using NVivo8. Three main themes were identified: self-sufficiency, communication, and expectations. Previous research indicates little is known about what is contributing to lower health literacy among rural residents. The results of this study will strengthen our understanding of rural health literacy and create a framework for potential interventions to increase patient’s overall ability to seek, use, and understand health related information.
Category
Social Sciences
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Rights
Copyright 2015 Lorraine C. Adams and Craig Ravesloot
A Qualitative Analysis of Rural Health Literacy
South UC Ballroom
Health literacy (i.e., the ability to seek, use, and understand health related information) plays a paramount role in receiving quality health care. Lower health literacy levels have also been associated with worse overall health outcomes (Paasche-Orlow, 2007; Jordan, 2009). Interestingly, rural populations tend to have lower health literacy levels compared to their urban counterparts (Zahnd, 2009). Therefore the purpose of this study was to examine potential contributing factors to rural populate’s lower health literacy levels. Ten structured, qualitative interviews were conducted on rural residents from Powell, Sanders, Beaverhead, and Flathead counties who had been discharged from St. Patrick’s Hospital Missoula, Montana within the last year. The interview transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach and emergent themes were coded using NVivo8. Three main themes were identified: self-sufficiency, communication, and expectations. Previous research indicates little is known about what is contributing to lower health literacy among rural residents. The results of this study will strengthen our understanding of rural health literacy and create a framework for potential interventions to increase patient’s overall ability to seek, use, and understand health related information.