Original Articles
Health Literacy Issues Among Women with Visual Impairments

Research in Gerontological Nursing  Vol. 3 No. 1 January 2010

By Tracie C. Harrison, PhD, RN, FNP; Michael Mackert, PhD; Casey Watkins, BA

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this secondary analysis using qualitative description was to explore health literacy using the health care experiences of women with permanent visual impairments (VIs). Interviews were analyzed from a sample of 15 community-dwelling women ages 44 to 79 with permanent VIs who had participated in a larger grounded theory study. The 15 women were interviewed twice; the audio-recorded interviews were then transcribed verbatim and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Using the Institute of Medicine’s definition of health literacy, the women’s experiences were categorized into their ability to obtain, process, and understand health information. Their perceptions of the factors that influenced their health literacy were also explored. The women voiced that barriers to their ability to gain information in a format amenable to their processing skills, combined with barriers arising from health care providers’ attitudes, undermined their ability to build health literacy capacity.

AUTHORS

Dr. Harrison is Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Dr. Mackert is Assistant Professor, Department of Advertising, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, and Ms. Watkins is Medical Student II, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, Texas.

The authors disclose that they have no significant financial interests in any product or class of products discussed directly or indirectly in this activity. This work was supported by a grant from The John A. Hartford/Atlantic Philanthropies Postdoctoral Fellowship in Gerontological Nursing and by a pilot grant from The Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research in Underserved Populations at The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing (P30 NRO05051).

Dr. Harrison thanks and acknowledges the support of postdoctoral mentors Alexa Stuifbergen, Jaqueline Angel, Shelley Blozis, Toni Tripp-Reimer, Nancy Fugate Woods, and Eun-Ok Im.

Address correspondence to Tracie C. Harrison, PhD, RN, FNP, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Austin, 1700 Red River, Austin, TX 78701; e-mail: tharrison@mail.nur.utexas.edu.

Received: June 3, 2008; Accepted: April 29, 2009; Posted: August 31, 2009

doi:10.3928/19404921-20090731-0