Organizational health literacy in facilities for people with disabilities: First results of an explorative qualitative and quantitative study

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Authors

  • Katharina Rathmann
  • Theres Vockert
  • Lorena Denise Wetzel
  • Judith Lutz
  • Kevin Dadaczynski

To date, studies on individual and organizational health literacy (OHL) in facilities for people with disabilities are scarce. Thus, the aims of this study are (1) to adapt an existing instrument for measuring organizational health literacy (OHL), namely, the “Health literate health care organization scale” (HLHO-10), to the context of facilities for people with disabilities, (2) to quantitatively examine characteristics of OHL, and (3) to qualitatively assess the definition and role of OHL by interviewing managers and skilled staff. An online study in Germany with N = 130 managers and skilled staff in facilities for people with disabilities was conducted, using the adapted HLHO-10 questionnaire. Univariate analyses were applied. Qualitative content analysis was used to investigate interview data from N = 8 managers and skilled staff from N = 8 facilities for people with disabilities in Hesse, Germany. Quantitative results revealed that respondents reported a below-average level in HLHO-10, with the lowest level found in the attribute of participative development of health information. The qualitative findings showed a clear need for improved navigation to and in facilities. The quantitative and qualitative findings are mainly consistent. Future research and measures should focus on facilities for people with disabilities in order to strengthen the development of and access to target-group-specific health information, as well as to establish a health-literate working and living environment.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2886
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume17
Issue number8
Number of pages29
ISSN1661-7827
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 02.04.2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: We acknowledge support by the Open Access Publishing Fund of Hochschule Fulda–Fulda University of Applied Sciences.

Funding Information:
was provided by the Program “Internal Funding of Research” of the Fulda University of Applied Sciences for the research projects “GeKoMB–Gesundheitkompetenz von Menschen mit Behinderung in Leichter Sprache/Measuring Health Literacy in Easy Language among People with Disabilities” (2019–2020) and “Organisationale Gesundheitskompetenz in Einrichtungen der Eingliederungs- und Behindertenhilfe/HeaLO—Health Literate Organizations for People with Disabilities” (2020–2021).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

    Research areas

  • Health care organizations, Inclusion, Organizational health literacy, People with disabilities
  • Health sciences

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