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Table 4 Association between mean HLQ scale scores and demographic and socioeconomic characteristics by effect size

From: Health literacy of recently hospitalised patients: a cross-sectional survey using the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ)

 

Healthcare provider supporta

Having sufficient informationa

Actively managing healtha

Social support for healtha

Active appraisal of health informationa

Active engagement with healthcareb

Navigating the healthcare systemb

Ability to find good health informationb

Understanding health informationb

Mean (ES)c

Mean (ES)c

Mean (ES)c

Mean (ES)c

Mean (ES)c

Mean (ES)c

Mean (ES)c

Mean (ES)c

Mean (ES)c

Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics

Sex

Female (N =187)

3.13

2.94

2.88

3.06

2.84

3.82

3.62

3.59

3.88

(0.58)

(0.51)

(0.53)

(0.55)

(0.53)

(0.74)

(0.75)

(0.77)

(0.76)

Male (N =194)

3.12

2.99

2.98

3.16

2.80

3.82

3.65

3.53

3.82

(0.55)

(0.52)

(0.51)

(0.54)

(0.51)

(0.82)

(0.75)

(0.82)

(0.80)

Age, years

<65 (N= 166)

3.06d

2.91d

2.87 d

3.01 d

2.84

3.77

3.59

3.66 d

3.93d

(0.62)

(0.55)

(0.53)

(0.62)

(0.48)

(0.79)

(0.75)

(0.73)

(0.69)

≥65 (N= 216)

3.18d

3.01d

2.98 d

3.18 d

2.80

3.86

3.67

3.48 d

3.78d

(0.51)

(0.48)

(0.51)

(0.46)

(0.55)

(0.77)

(0.75)

(0.84)

(0.84)

Lives alone

Yes (N= 70)

3.17

2.97

2.99

2.99d

2.77

3.76

3.60

3.39d

3.71d

(0.54)

(0.57)

(0.59)

(0.60)

(0.57)

(0.81)

(0.85)

(0.91)

(0.84)

No (N= 306)

3.11

2.96

2.91

3.13d

2.82

3.83

3.63

3.59d

3.87d

(0.57)

(0.50)

(0.50)

(0.53)

(0.50)

(0.77)

(0.73)

(0.77)

(0.76)

Employed

Yes (N= 113)

3.09

2.98

2.93

3.13

2.90 d

3.89

3.70

3.76 d

4.00d

(0.62)

(0.48)

(0.54)

(0.57)

(0.49)

(0.71)

(0.64)

(0.67)

(0.59)

No (N= 268)

3.15

2.96

2.94

3.09

2.79 d

3.80

3.61

3.47 d

3.79d

(0.53)

(0.53)

(0.51)

(0.54)

(0.53)

(0.81)

(0.79)

(0.84)

(0.84)

Completed secondary education or higher

Yes (N= 123)

3.22d

3.02

2.97

3.16

2.89 d

3.97 d

3.70

3.74 d

4.08 d

(0.52)

(0.51)

(0.55)

(0.52)

(0.50)

(0.67)

(0.68)

(0.68)

(0.62)

No (N= 245)

3.08d

2.93

2.90

3.07

2.77 d

3.73 d

3.58

3.45 d

3.72 d

(0.58)

(0.52)

(0.51)

(0.56)

(0.51)

(0.83)

(0.78)

(0.83)

(0.83)

Household income < $30,000

Yes (N= 149)

3.10

2.92

2.94

3.06

2.82

3.73 d

3.54d

3.40 d

3.71 d

(0.62)

(0.58)

(0.54)

(0.62)

(0.56)

(0.90)

(0.86)

(0.95)

(0.89)

No (N= 135)

3.16

2.97

2.88

3.14

2.79

3.92 d

3.71d

3.66 d

4.02 d

(0.49)

(0.48)

(0.51)

(0.48)

(0.47)

(0.62)

(0.61)

(0.65)

(0.60)

Receiving means tested government benefits

Yes (N= 233)

3.16

2.96

2.97

3.13

2.78d

3.81

3.62

3.46 d

3.77 d

(0.49)

(0.51)

(0.49)

(0.50)

(0.53)

(0.77)

(0.77)

(0.84)

(0.82)

No (N =133)

3.08

2.97

2.88

3.08

2.88d

3.84

3.64

3.72 d

3.97 d

(0.63)

(0.52)

(0.53)

(0.59)

(0.47)

(0.77)

(0.72)

(0.68)

(0.66)

English speaking country of birth

No (N= 223)

3.19 d

2.99

2.94

3.13

2.83

3.95d

3.76d

3.75 e

4.05 e

(0.59)

(0.52)

(0.53)

(0.57)

(0.52)

(0.72)

(0.69)

(0.70)

(0.62)

Yes (N= 143)

3.02 d

2.93

2.91

3.08

2.82

3.62d

3.44d

3.30 e

3.54 e

(0.53

(0.51)

(0.53)

(0.52)

(0.54)

(0.83)

(0.81)

(0.87)

(0.90)

English spoken at home

No (N= 92)

3.02 d

2.98

2.99

3.08

2.85

3.62d

3.33e

3.18 e

3.35 f

(0.47)

(0.47)

(0.48)

(0.51)

(0.50)

(0.83)

(0.82)

(0.87)

(0.93)

Yes (N= 290)

3.15 d

2.96

2.91

3.11

2.81

3.95d

3.73e

3.68 e

4.01 f

(0.59)

(0.53)

(0.53)

(0.56)

(0.53)

(0.72)

(0.70)

(0.73)

(0.65)

Internet use

Yes (N= 219)

3.15

2.96

2.92

3.10

2.84

3.89d

3.69d

3.76 e

4.03 e

(0.57)

(0.48)

(0.53)

(0.56)

(0.47)

(0.72)

(0.70)

(0.64)

(0.61)

Never/rarely (N= 142)

3.08

2.96

2.92

3.11

2.76

3.69d

3.53d

3.26 e

3.55 e

(0.56)

(0.58)

(0.53)

(0.54)

(0.59)

(0.87)

(0.83)

(0.94)

(0.93)

Private health insurance

Yes (N= 110)

3.14

3.03

2.95

3.15

2.87

3.88

3.69

3.63

3.90

(0.60)

(0.53)

(0.55)

(0.54)

(0.56)

(0.79)

(0.76)

(0.76)

(0.86)

No (N= 249)

3.13

2.95

2.93

3.10

2.81

3.81

3.62

3.54

3.84

(0.55)

(0.51)

(0.51)

(0.55)

(0.49)

(0.77)

(0.75)

(0.81)

(0.74)

  1. aScale range 0–4, higher score indicates greater ability or more support; bScale range 0–5, higher score indicates greater ability or more support. Variables in bold are significant at the 0.05 level by the Mann–Whitney U test for non-parametric data and one-way ANOVA. cEffect size (ES) calculated using Cohen’s d for standardised difference in means. Interpretation of ES: “small” ES >0.20-0.50 SD identified by d, “medium” ES 0.50-0.80 SD identified by e, and “large” ES >0.80 SD identified by f
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