Abstract
Purpose :
This research is part of an ongoing study to understand if Health Literacy in AMD can be improved by the digital provision of educational content coupled with a self-monitoring vision app. The initial research undertaken was to understand the baseline Health Literacy score of patients living with AMD, who were about to begin self-monitoring of their vision between in-person clinic visits, and to understand how improvement might be best targeted through future intervention.
Methods :
Patients who chose to participate in self-monitoring of their visual acuity and distortion using the OKKO Health app in Oxford University Hospital and Nottingham University Hospital were invited to complete an adjusted HLS-EU-Q16 questionnaire to determine their baseline Health Literacy score. The questionnaire was completed online, via a link using Qualtrix survey software. The full set of disease-agnostic HLS-EU-Q16 questions were posed, including, for example: "How easy would you say it is to find information on treatments of illnesses that concern you?", and, "How easy would you say it is to understand what you doctor says to you?".
Results :
This is part of an ongoing study following patients longitudinally. One hundred and twenty three patients completed the HLS-EU-Q16 questionnaire. Of these, 77 were female and 46 male. Participants had a mean age of 77 years; range 60 to 90 years.
The median Health Literacy score of all participants was 12. This did not appear to differ significantly by age group (Fig 1), and there was no statistically significant difference between the scores of participants either side of the median (p=0.74). However, Health Literacy score did differ by sex, with baseline health literacy being higher in females than males (p=0.019). The proportion of patients with likely inadequate Health Literacy was 21.7%, likely problematic Health Literacy was 41.7%, and those with likely sufficient Health Literacy was 36.7% (Fig 2).
Conclusions :
The proportion of patients with likely sufficient baseline Health Literacy in AMD is low. Baseline Health Literacy appears to be similar across age groups but differs by sex (higher in females). There is significant scope to improve health literacy upon diagnosis of AMD so that patients living with their eye disease are better able to confidently engage with their care.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.