| Although research shows that 27% to 54% of heart failure patients have low health literacy, only 58% of providers identified health literacy as a problem during a survey conducted by the Heart Failure Society of America. There was an identified gap in the literature regarding how providers' perceptions of health literacy and frequent hospitalizations are a commonly recognized consequence of low health literacy. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain insight into physicians' perceived understanding of health literacy as related to heart failure patients. This qualitative method allowed expression of the lived experiences of cardiologists and internal medicine physicians caring for heart failure patients within the Baylor Healthcare System. Data collection involved audio recorded face to face interviews with four cardiologists and three internal medicine physicians. Data analysis involved: (a) bracketing presuppositions, (b) reading interview transcriptions, (c) delineating meaning, (d) organizing meaning into units, (e) identifying general themes, and (f) forming a thematic index; the qualitative data analysis software Weft QDA was used to aid data analysis. Participants' expressed understanding of health literacy was limited to one aspect: identifying patients' reading ability. Three main themes emerged from the study: (a) patient ownership of healthcare, (b) provider perceptions of health literacy vs. reality of practice, and (c) no magic formula to lower heart failure 30 day readmission rates. The social change implications from the findings are focused on increasing providers' understanding of the term health literacy, so that effective heart failure education is provided, empowering patients for successful management of their chronic disease in the outpatient environment. |
