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The Association among Literacy, Numeracy, HIV Knowledge and Health-Seeking Behavior: A Population-Based Survey of Women in Rural Mozambique
BACKGROUND: Limited literacy skills are common in the United States (US) and are related to lower HIV knowledge and worse health behaviors and outcomes. The extent of these associations is unknown in countries like Mozambique, where no rigorously validated literacy and numeracy measures exist. METHO...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2012
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3382184/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22745747 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039391 |
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author | Ciampa, Philip J. Vaz, Lara M.E. Blevins, Meridith Sidat, Moshin Rothman, Russell L. Vermund, Sten H. Vergara, Alfredo E. |
author_facet | Ciampa, Philip J. Vaz, Lara M.E. Blevins, Meridith Sidat, Moshin Rothman, Russell L. Vermund, Sten H. Vergara, Alfredo E. |
author_sort | Ciampa, Philip J. |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Limited literacy skills are common in the United States (US) and are related to lower HIV knowledge and worse health behaviors and outcomes. The extent of these associations is unknown in countries like Mozambique, where no rigorously validated literacy and numeracy measures exist. METHODS: A validated measure of literacy and numeracy, the Wide Range Achievement Test, version 3 (WRAT-3) was translated into Portuguese, adapted for a Mozambican context, and administered to a cross-section of female heads-of-household during a provincially representative survey conducted from August 8 to September 25, 2010. Construct validity of each subscale was examined by testing associations with education, income, and possession of socioeconomic assets, stratified by Portuguese speaking ability. Multivariable regression models estimated the association among literacy/numeracy and HIV knowledge, self-reported HIV testing, and utilization of prenatal care. RESULTS: Data from 3,557 women were analyzed; 1,110 (37.9%) reported speaking Portuguese. Respondents’ mean age was 31.2; 44.6% lacked formal education, and 34.3% reported no income. Illiteracy was common (50.4% of Portuguese speakers, 93.7% of non-Portuguese speakers) and the mean numeracy score (10.4) corresponded to US kindergarten-level skills. Literacy or numeracy was associated (p<0.01) with education, income, age, and other socioeconomic assets. Literacy and numeracy skills were associated with HIV knowledge in adjusted models, but not with HIV testing or receipt of clinic-based prenatal care. CONCLUSION: The adapted literacy and numeracy subscales are valid for use with rural Mozambican women. Limited literacy and numeracy skills were common and associated with lower HIV knowledge. Further study is needed to determine the extent to which addressing literacy/numeracy will lead to improved health outcomes. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3382184 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2012 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-33821842012-06-28 The Association among Literacy, Numeracy, HIV Knowledge and Health-Seeking Behavior: A Population-Based Survey of Women in Rural Mozambique Ciampa, Philip J. Vaz, Lara M.E. Blevins, Meridith Sidat, Moshin Rothman, Russell L. Vermund, Sten H. Vergara, Alfredo E. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Limited literacy skills are common in the United States (US) and are related to lower HIV knowledge and worse health behaviors and outcomes. The extent of these associations is unknown in countries like Mozambique, where no rigorously validated literacy and numeracy measures exist. METHODS: A validated measure of literacy and numeracy, the Wide Range Achievement Test, version 3 (WRAT-3) was translated into Portuguese, adapted for a Mozambican context, and administered to a cross-section of female heads-of-household during a provincially representative survey conducted from August 8 to September 25, 2010. Construct validity of each subscale was examined by testing associations with education, income, and possession of socioeconomic assets, stratified by Portuguese speaking ability. Multivariable regression models estimated the association among literacy/numeracy and HIV knowledge, self-reported HIV testing, and utilization of prenatal care. RESULTS: Data from 3,557 women were analyzed; 1,110 (37.9%) reported speaking Portuguese. Respondents’ mean age was 31.2; 44.6% lacked formal education, and 34.3% reported no income. Illiteracy was common (50.4% of Portuguese speakers, 93.7% of non-Portuguese speakers) and the mean numeracy score (10.4) corresponded to US kindergarten-level skills. Literacy or numeracy was associated (p<0.01) with education, income, age, and other socioeconomic assets. Literacy and numeracy skills were associated with HIV knowledge in adjusted models, but not with HIV testing or receipt of clinic-based prenatal care. CONCLUSION: The adapted literacy and numeracy subscales are valid for use with rural Mozambican women. Limited literacy and numeracy skills were common and associated with lower HIV knowledge. Further study is needed to determine the extent to which addressing literacy/numeracy will lead to improved health outcomes. Public Library of Science 2012-06-22 /pmc/articles/PMC3382184/ /pubmed/22745747 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039391 Text en Ciampa et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Ciampa, Philip J. Vaz, Lara M.E. Blevins, Meridith Sidat, Moshin Rothman, Russell L. Vermund, Sten H. Vergara, Alfredo E. The Association among Literacy, Numeracy, HIV Knowledge and Health-Seeking Behavior: A Population-Based Survey of Women in Rural Mozambique |
title | The Association among Literacy, Numeracy, HIV Knowledge and Health-Seeking Behavior: A Population-Based Survey of Women in Rural Mozambique |
title_full | The Association among Literacy, Numeracy, HIV Knowledge and Health-Seeking Behavior: A Population-Based Survey of Women in Rural Mozambique |
title_fullStr | The Association among Literacy, Numeracy, HIV Knowledge and Health-Seeking Behavior: A Population-Based Survey of Women in Rural Mozambique |
title_full_unstemmed | The Association among Literacy, Numeracy, HIV Knowledge and Health-Seeking Behavior: A Population-Based Survey of Women in Rural Mozambique |
title_short | The Association among Literacy, Numeracy, HIV Knowledge and Health-Seeking Behavior: A Population-Based Survey of Women in Rural Mozambique |
title_sort | association among literacy, numeracy, hiv knowledge and health-seeking behavior: a population-based survey of women in rural mozambique |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3382184/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22745747 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039391 |
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