Health literacy - a new piece of the puzzle in psoriasis care? - results from a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Health literacy (HL) – the ability to seek, understand and utilize health information – is important for good health. Suboptimal HL has been associated with poorer health outcomes in other chronic conditions, although this has not previously been studied in patients with psoriasis. Objectives: To investigate the HL strengths and weaknesses of a cohort of patients with moderate‐to‐severe psoriasis. Another aim was to examine possible associations between patients’ quality of life, their demographic, clinical and self‐management characteristics, and dimensions of HL. Methods: A cross‐sectional study was conducted. Data were collected from a cohort of patients with psoriasis who had received climate helio therapy from 2011 to 2016 (n = 825). HL was assessed by the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). The association between HL domains, demographic, clinical and self‐management variables were analysed using bivariate correlation and a four‐step linear multiple regression model. Results: The scores on all HLQ dimensions indicated lower health literacy than other populations. The linear regression models showed a significant association between HL, quality of life and self‐management variables, with higher HL predicting higher quality of life, self‐efficacy and psoriasis knowledge. Sex, educational attainment, age and disease severity had less influence on health literacy. Conclusions: Improving HL may be a useful strategy for reducing disparities in self‐management skills for patients with psoriasis. Interventions that aim to reduce disease severity and increase psoriasis knowledge, self‐efficacy and quality of life may positively increase HL.