Dave:

There are many assessments for literacy and/or health literacy: WRAT-R3, REALM, LAD, MART, SORT-R3 TOFHLA, PIAT-R, Cloze, and NVS. And there are two good resources that compare and contrast and summarize them:

 "Understanding health literacy : implications for medicine and public health" by Joanne G Schwartzberg;  Jonathan VanGeest;  Claire Wang; et al [Chicago, Ill.] : American Medical Association, 2005. https://catalog.ama-assn.org/Catalog/product/product_detail.jsp?productId=prod240170?checkXwho=done (see Chapter 10: Literacy Testing in Health Care Research)

"Health Literacy in Primary Care: A Clinician's Guide" by Gloria G. Mayer and Michael Villaire. Springer Publishing Company, 2007. http://www.iha4health.org/index.cfm/act/Catalog.cfm/catalogid/44/category/Bookstore/browse/null/MenuGroup/IHA%20Books/desc/Health%20Literacy%20in%20Primary%20Care.htm  (see Chapter 3: Assessing Patients' Literacy Levels).

*** Both of these are excellent books and I highly recommend getting a copy for your personal library.

NVS (Newest Vital Sign) is quick (takes 3-5 minutes) and evaluates how patients understand, process, and use basic information (in this case, using a food label to answer questions and make decisions). If you search the listserv archive you'll find previous discussion about it.

Here are some links to the tool:

Newest Vital Sign nutrition label http://www.clearhealthcommunication.com/pdf/FH_vitalsigns_040605.pdf 
Newest Vital Sign scoring sheet http://www.clearhealthcommunication.com/pdf/FH_vitals_quest8x10_040605.pdf

The Newest Vital Sign is available to medical and public health providers and researchers at no cost. Email: nvs at qualitycustomercare.com

I've never used the tool myself and cannot vouch for it. But it seems like it might work for your project.

Osborn CY, Weiss BD, Davis TC, Skripkauskas S, Rodrigue C, Bass PF, Wolf MS. Measuring adult literacy in health care: performance of the newest vital sign. Am J Health Behav. 2007 Sep-Oct;31 Suppl 1:S36-46. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17931135

Weiss BD, Mays MZ, Martz W, Castro KM, DeWalt DA, Pignone MP, Mockbee J, Hale FA. Quick assessment of literacy in primary care: the newest vital sign. Ann Fam Med. 2005 Nov-Dec;3(6):514-22. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16338915


Doug Seubert
Quality Improvement & Care Management
Family Health Center/Community Health Access

Marshfield Clinic
1000 N Oak Avenue
Marshfield, WI 54449
www.marshfieldclinic.org/quality

(715) 387-5096 (1-800-782-8581 ext. 75096)
seubert.douglas at marshfieldclinic.org

------Original Message------
From:	"David M. Young" <dyoung at montana.edu>
Date:	Wed Dec 17, 2008 -- 02:05:16 PM
To:	healthliteracy at nifl.gov
Subject:	[HealthLiteracy 2576]  Health Literacy Survey for Elderly

Greetings,

I am a new member to the listserv.  My name is David Young and I am a 
Health Educator/Researcher at Montana State University.  I am a 
member of a research team working on a grant designed to enhance the 
health and well-being of rural elderly so that they can stay in their 
homes and local communities as long as possible.  A major component 
our grant is to improve the level of health literacy of rural 
elderly.  We have searched the literature for possible survey 
instruments to use and are familiar with the TOFHLA and S-TOFHLA 
which measures primarily reading fluency and we are more interested 
in measuring and individual's ability to obtain, process, understand 
and use basic health information and services.

Thanks in advance - my e-mail address is dyoung at montana.edu

Dave


David M. Young, Professor
Community Resource Specialist
Extension Service & College of Nursing

"Cultivating Healthier Rural Communities and Reducing Poverty"

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