Other Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Uams Summer Health Literacy Study, Merritt Osment

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses

Background: Health Literacy is a barrier to self-care; patients often lack the skills to understand complicated instructions that deal with medications, wound care, follow up schedules, and preventative care. Patients who undergo hip and knee replacements are often older adults, a population that normally struggles with various aspects of health literacy. Patient education materials are a common means of communicating with these individuals. However, if the patient does not understand the materials that they are given, they are more likely to experience negative side effects after their operation. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the health literacy …