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Table 5 Association between health literacy and hospital service use

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

n

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

Self-reported non-urgent ED attendance last 12 months (any hospital)

Yes (N = 340)

3.14d

2.97d

2.94d

3.12d

2.82

3.84 d

3.65 d

3.56

3.85d

(0.57)

(0.52)

(0.52)

(0.55)

(0.52)

(0.78)

(0.74)

(0.80)

(0.78)

No (N = 32)

2.97d

2.84d

2.80d

2.98d

2.80

3.56 d

3.32 d

3.45

3.70d

(0.10)

(0.48)

(0.55)

(0.47)

(0.56)

(0.81)

(0.79)

(0.80)

(0.78)

Length of stay <7 days

Yes (N = 332)

3.13

2.98d

2.94

3.11

2.82

3.82

3.63

3.57

3.86

(0.56)

(0.51)

(0.52)

(0.54)

(0.51)

(0.79)

(0.77)

(0.80)

(0.78)

No (N = 48)

3.09

2.86d

2.88

3.07

2.80

3.79

3.63

3.48

3.72

(0.62)

(0.53)

(0.53)

(0.61)

(0.58)

(0.72)

(0.64)

(0.82)

(0.75)

≥3 admissions in last 12 months in this hospital

Yes (N = 28)

3.38 d

3.11d

3.09d

3.30 d

2.85

3.88

3.64

3.46

3.88

(0.48)

(0.55)

(0.42)

(0.58)

(0.56)

(0.72)

(0.82)

(0.78)

(0.70)

No (N = 350)

3.11 d

2.95d

2.92d

3.09 d

2.82

3.81

3.63

3.56

3.84

(0.57)

(0.51)

(0.53)

(0.54)

(0.52)

(0.78)

(0.75)

(0.80)

(0.79)

≥2 non-urgent ED presentations in last 12 months in this hospital

Yes (N = 45)

3.10

3.02

3.02d

3.19

2.88

3.72

3.59

3.48

3.81

(0.64)

(0.61)

(0.59)

(0.65)

(0.60)

(0.90)

(0.89)

(0.98)

(0.89)

No (N = 334)

3.13

2.96

2.92d

3.10

2.81

3.83

3.63

3.56

3.85

(0.56)

(0.50)

(0.51)

(0.53)

(0.51)

(0.76)

(0.73)

(0.77)

(0.77)

  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. d‘Small’ effect size (ES) > 0.20-0.50