Dataset Information

Caregivers' health literacy and gaps in children's Medicaid enrollment: findings from the Carolina Oral Health Literacy Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Recent evidence supports a link between caregivers' health literacy and their children's health and use of health services. Disruptions in children's health insurance coverage have been linked to poor health care and outcomes. We examined young children's Medicaid enrollment patterns in a well-characterized cohort of child/caregivers dyads and investigated the association of caregivers' low health literacy with the incidence of enrollment gaps.

Methods

We relied upon Medicaid enrollment data for 1208 children (mean age?=?19 months) enrolled in the Carolina Oral Health Literacy project during 2008-09. The median follow-up was 25 months. Health literacy was measured using the Newest Vital Sign (NVS). Analyses relied on descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate methods based on Poisson modeling.

Findings

One-third of children experienced one or more enrollment gaps; most were short in duration (median?=?5 months). The risk of gaps was inversely associated with caregivers' age, with a 2% relative risk decrease for each added year. Low health literacy was associated with a modestly elevated risk increase [Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR)?=?1.17 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.88-1.57)] for enrollment disruptions; however, this estimate was substantially elevated among caregivers with less than a high school education [IRR?=?1.52 (95% CI 0.99-2.35); homogeneity p<0.2].

Conclusions

Our findings provide initial support for a possible role of caregivers' health literacy as a determinant of children's Medicaid enrollment gaps. Although the association between health literacy and enrollment gaps was not confirmed statistically, we found that it was markedly stronger among caregivers with low educational attainment. This population, as well as young caregivers, may be the most vulnerable to the negative effects of low health literacy.

SUBMITTER: Lee JY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4193870 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Caregivers' health literacy and gaps in children's Medicaid enrollment: findings from the Carolina Oral Health Literacy Study.

Lee Jessica Y JY Divaris Kimon K DeWalt Darren A DA Baker A Diane AD Gizlice Ziya Z Rozier R Gary RG Vann William F WF

PloS one 20141010 10

<h4>Background and objectives</h4>Recent evidence supports a link between caregivers' health literacy and their children's health and use of health services. Disruptions in children's health insurance coverage have been linked to poor health care and outcomes. We examined young children's Medicaid enrollment patterns in a well-characterized cohort of child/caregivers dyads and investigated the association of caregivers' low health literacy with the incidence of enrollment gaps.<h4>Methods</h4>We ...[more]

PMID: 25303271

Similar Datasets

Project description:AimPrevious studies have shown that children of caregivers with low oral health literacy (OHL) had more untreated caries than children of caregivers with adequate OHL. However, there is a paucity of information on this relationship among children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN). Accordingly, this study aims to assess the association between the caregivers' OHL and the oral health status of CYSHCN.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted in four schools dedicated for CYSHCN. A 48-item questionnaire gathered information about the demographic and socioeconomic factors, the child/adolescent's medical condition, dental characteristics, caregiver self-efficacy and the child's dental attitude. The Comprehensive Measure of Oral Health Knowledge (CMOHK) questionnaire was used to assess the caregivers' OHL. The Löe & Silness gingival index (GI) and the Silness & Löe plaque index (PI) were used to assess gingival health and plaque levels, respectively. Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) were utilized for the selection of the appropriate set of confounding variables for regression analysis. The mean score differences and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated to quantify the associations of the various covariates with oral health outcome variables.ResultsThis study included 214 child/caregiver dyads. Most participants were physically disabled (56.1%) followed by children with hearing difficulty (9.8%) and congenital anomalies/syndromes (7.9%). The mean PI and GI of the children was 1.26±0.52 and 1.30±0.47, respectively. The median CMOHK score was 12 and the respondents were dichotomized based on the median value. Low caregiver oral health conceptual knowledge was significantly associated with higher PI scores (β [95% CI] = -0.26 [-0.41, -0.13]; p<0.001. Older participants (12-21-year-olds) had significantly higher plaque scores compared with younger participants (6-12-year-olds) (β [95% CI] = 0.33 [0.18, 0.51]; p<0.001). Participants who brushed their teeth twice or more daily had significantly lower (β [95% CI] = -0.15 [-0.43, -0.01]; p = 0.046). Conceptual knowledge score was not significantly associated with GI.ConclusionThis study found lower caregiver OHL levels to be associated with higher plaque scores for their child.

Project description:Background:The National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy makes the case that a wide range of organizations and professionals must work together to improve health information and services to achieve a health literate society. The context and framework for this collaboration and action, however, have yet to be well-articulated. We report on our use of a community health needs assessment model to describe county and state health literacy activities, gaps, assets, and opportunities. This approach combines the public health best practice of learning about communities through systematic assessments and the emerging health literacy best practice of studying organizational behaviors. Brief description of activity:A community health literacy assessment was implemented from January 2018 to April 2018. The purpose was to collect information about county and state-level health literacy activities, gaps, assets, and opportunities. We used this information to characterize the status of health literacy in Maryland and establish an initial baseline for county and state strategic planning work and future collaboration. Implementation:An environmental scan of each county in Maryland identified health indicators, community resources, and health organizations or professionals. Organizational representatives participated in interviews about their health literacy work. Interviews were analyzed to identify themes as well as summarize and quantify perspectives by county. We convened a forum, disseminated preliminary findings, and performed member checking to assess agreement with the results. Results:The team interviewed 56 individuals from 49 organizations. Themes of health literacy definitions as well as organizational ranking on the use of health literacy best practices are discussed in this article. Forty public health professionals, including 10 interview participants, attended the forum. Member checking assessed interview participants' agreement with results and interpretations, which were found to be accurate portrayals of their responses. Lessons learned:Lessons learned include being flexible with the interview approach, performing member checking, and allowing participants to self-define health literacy. Our experience shows a small team can perform a large-scale assessment that provides actionable information at state and county-levels. The results can influence future interventions, inform strategic planning and collaboration, and lead us toward a health literate society. [HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice. 2019;3(4):e216-e226.]. Plain Language Summary:A systematic community health needs assessment framework was used to collect information about health literacy activities, assets, gaps, and opportunities at the state and county level. Participant feedback showed the team accurately captured the activities, assets, gaps, and opportunities to improve health literacy practices. A needs assessment framework is feasible for describing community health literacy.

Dataset Information

Caregivers' health literacy and gaps in children's Medicaid enrollment: findings from the Carolina Oral Health Literacy Study.

Background and objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusions

Publications

Caregivers' health literacy and gaps in children's Medicaid enrollment: findings from the Carolina Oral Health Literacy Study.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets