查看文章

While the association between inadequate health literacy and adverse health outcomes has been well documented, less is known about the impact of health literacy on health perceptions, such as perceptions of control over health, and preventive health behaviors.

We identified a subsample of participants (N = 707) from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative sample of older adults, who participated in health literacy testing. Self-reported health literacy was measured with a literacy screening question, and objective health literacy with a summed score of items from the Test of Functional Health Literacy. We compared answers on these items to those related to participation in health behaviors such as cancer screening, exercise, and tobacco use, as well as self-referencing health beliefs …