Speaker – Beckie Child
While a large body of research exists about health literacy, the body of literature about health literacy and people diagnosed with mental illness remains quite small. Very few studies actually talk to people about health literacy unless they are designing a new instrument to measure health literacy and how they make medical decisions regardless of what their health literacy level is. Even fewer studies talk to people diagnosed with mental illness. This study addresses this gap by talking with middle-aged adults about how they make informed medical decisions in both mental and physical healthcare. Participants make recommendations for healthcare providers in both mental health/addiction and physical healthcare.
While a large body of research exists about health literacy, the body of literature about health literacy and people diagnosed with mental illness remains quite small. Very few studies actually talk to people about health literacy unless they are designing a new instrument to measure health literacy and how they make medical decisions regardless of what their health literacy level is. Even fewer studies talk to people diagnosed with mental illness. This study addresses this gap by talking with middle-aged adults about how they make informed medical decisions in both mental and physical healthcare. Participants make recommendations for healthcare providers in both mental health/addiction and physical healthcare.