A study in Journal of Medical Internet Research examining if health literacy is associated with patients’ use of health IT tools and their related perceptions reiterated previous findings: Those with lower health literacy are less likely to use health IT tools and perceive them as easy or useful than those with higher health literacy.
However, the study also found those with lower health literacy perceived patient portals and mobile apps to be more private and secure than those with high health literacy. Study authors suggest this finding could direct future research on how individuals of varying health literacy levels make decisions about information to share with apps. They also write the finding suggests a need for information privacy education, particularly in underserved populations, to enable them to make decisions about their health information privacy.
Another study finding showed those with lower health literacy were less trusting of the government, media and technology companies, but were more likely to trust healthcare providers.
“The greater feelings of trust in healthcare providers among lower health-literate users suggest that companies and government organizations interested in rolling out new health IT to lower health-literate populations should consider partnering with trusted healthcare providers to help ensure adoption,” the study authors wrote.
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