Role of health literacy in parent medication beliefs

background

Previous studies have found associations between low health literacy (HL) and negative medication beliefs, but knowledge is limited among parents of young children. We aimed to examine the association between HL and perceptions about medications in English and Spanish speaking parents of young children.

methods

Parents of children ≤8y were recruited from 3 urban pediatric clinics. HL was measured in 1,041 parents using the Newest Vital Sign and medication beliefs using the overuse and harm scales from Beliefs about Medication Questionnaire (BMQ; 5 point Likert: 1=strongly agree to 5=strongly disagree). Chi-square tests were used to assess differences in % “endorsed” (agree/strongly agree) for individual BMQ items by HL. Using ordinal logistic regression, tertiles of mean overuse and harm scores were regressed on HL, adjusting for race/ethnicity, education, and clinic.

results

Parents had a mean (SD) age of 29.4(7.4) years; 89% mothers, 31% <HS grad, 55% Hispanic, 36% Spanish speakers, 38% low HL. Low HL was associated with 1 of the 3 overuse items (“Doctors place too much trust on medicines”, p<.0001) and 4 of the 5 harm items (p<0.05; e.g. “Most medicines are addictive”, p<.0001). Compared to parents with adequate HL, parents with low (AOR=2.2 [95%CI: 1.6-3.1]) and marginal (AOR=1.7 [95% CI: 1.2-2.3]) HL had higher odds of endorsing beliefs about medication harm.

conclusions

Low HL is independently associated with negative beliefs about medication harms among parents, even after adjustment for demographic factors.  Healthcare professionals should use HL appropriate strategies to inform parents about medications and prevent these misconceptions.