Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

SAGETRACK

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Medical Decision Making
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (17)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Schwartz, L. M.
Right arrow Articles by Welch, H. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Schwartz, L. M.
Right arrow Articles by Welch, H. G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Can Patients Interpret Health Information? An Assessment of the Medical Data Interpretation Test

Lisa M. Schwartz, MD, MS

VA Outcomes Group, White River Junction, VT, and the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH, Lisa.Schwartz{at}Dartmouth.edu

Steven Woloshin, MD, MS

VA Outcomes Group, White River Junction, VT, and the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH

H. Gilbert Welch, MD, MPH

VA Outcomes Group, White River Junction, VT, and the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH

Objective. To establish the reliability/validity of an 18-item test of patients’ medical data interpretation skills. Design. Survey with retest after 2 weeks. Subjects. 178 people recruited from advertisements in local newspapers, an outpatient clinic, and a hospital open house. Results. The percentage of correct answers to individual items ranged from 20% to 87%, and medical data interpretation test scores (on a 0- 100 scale) were normally distributed (median 61.1, mean 61.0, range 6-94). Reliability was good (test-retest correlation = 0.67, Cronbach’s alpha = 0.71). Construct validity was supported in several ways. Higher scores were found among people with highest versus lowest numeracy (71 v. 36, P < 0.001), highest quantitative literacy (65 v. 28, P < 0.001), and highest education (69 v. 42, P = 0.004). Scores for 15 physician experts also completing the survey were significantly higher than participants with other postgraduate degrees (mean score 89 v. 69, P < 0.001). Conclusion. The medical data interpretation test is a reliable and valid measure of the ability to interpret medical statistics.

Key Words: numeracy • decision making • patient education

Medical Decision Making, Vol. 25, No. 3, 290-300 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0272989X05276860
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 American Journal of Medical QualityHome page
K. M. Mazor and K. S. Dodd
A Qualitative Study of Consumers' Views on Public Reporting of Health Care-Associated Infections
American Journal of Medical Quality, September 1, 2009; 24(5): 412 - 418.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 JCOHome page
K. L. Kilbridge, G. Fraser, M. Krahn, E. M. Nelson, M. Conaway, R. Bashore, A. Wolf, M. J. Barry, D. A. Gong, R. F. Nease Jr, et al.
Lack of Comprehension of Common Prostate Cancer Terms in an Underserved Population
J. Clin. Oncol., April 20, 2009; 27(12): 2015 - 2021.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 American Journal of Medical QualityHome page
K. M. Mazor, K. S. Dodd, and L. Kunches
Communicating Hospital Infection Data to the Public: A Study of Consumer Responses and Preferences
American Journal of Medical Quality, March 1, 2009; 24(2): 108 - 115.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Med Decis MakingHome page
M. Siegrist, P. Orlow, and C. Keller
The Effect of Graphical and Numerical Presentation of Hypothetical Prenatal Diagnosis Results on Risk Perception
Med Decis Making, July 1, 2008; 28(4): 567 - 574.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Psychological Science in the Public InterestHome page
G. Gigerenzer, W. Gaissmaier, E. Kurz-Milcke, L. M. Schwartz, and S. Woloshin
Helping Doctors and Patients Make Sense of Health Statistics
Psychological Science in the Public Interest, November 1, 2007; 8(2): 53 - 96.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J Am Med Inform AssocHome page
J. S Ancker and D. Kaufman
Rethinking Health Numeracy: A Multidisciplinary Literature Review
JAMIA, November 1, 2007; 14(6): 713 - 721.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 The Annals of PharmacotherapyHome page
W. Shrank, J. Avorn, C. Rolon, and P. Shekelle
Effect of Content and Format of Prescription Drug Labels on Readability, Understanding, and Medication Use: A Systematic Review
Ann. Pharmacother., May 1, 2007; 41(5): 783 - 801.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ANN INTERN MEDHome page
S. Woloshin, L. M. Schwartz, and H. G. Welch
The Effectiveness of a Primer to Help People Understand Risk: Two Randomized Trials in Distinct Populations
Ann Intern Med, February 20, 2007; 146(4): 256 - 265.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]