A Promising New Tool For Measuring Literacy In Primary Care

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 07 Dec 2005 - 4:00 PDT

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With as many as half of all American adults lacking the literacy skills required to function adequately in the health care environment, clinicians are in need of a tool that can rapidly assess patients' literacy.

Following rigorous evaluation, this study finds that a new screening tool, the Newest Vital Sign (NVS), holds promise for use in the busy primary care setting. A brief, six-question assessment based on the ability to read and apply information from a nutrition label, NVS was found to be a reliable and accurate measure of literacy.

The NVS has advantages over currently available instruments, which are either too long for routine use or are available only in English. The NVS is the first literacy screen available in both English and Spanish, and it NVS can be administered in an average of only three minutes.

The authors assert that these advantages, combined with the instrument's high consistency and validity, make NVS very appealing for use in primary care settings.

Quick Assessment of Literacy in Primary Care: The Newest Vital Sign
By Barry D. Weiss, M.D., et al

Annals of Family Medicine is a peer-reviewed research journal that provides a cross-disciplinary forum for new, evidence-based information affecting the primary care discipline. Launched in May 2003, the journal is sponsored by six family medical organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Board of Family Medicine, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors and the North American Primary Care Research Group. Annals is published six times each year and contains original research from the clinical, biomedical, social and health services areas, as well as contributions on methodology and theory, selected reviews, essays and editorials. A board of directors with representatives from each of the sponsoring organizations oversees Annals. Complete editorial content and interactive discussion groups for each published article can be accessed free of charge on the journal's Web site, http://www.annfammed.org.

Contact: Angela Sharma
asharma@aafp.org
American Academy of Family Physicians
Nov/Dec 2005 Annals of Family Medicine
http://www.aafp.org

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