Health literacy in pregnant women facing prenatal screening may explain their intention to use a patient decision aid: a short report

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that health literacy may impact the use of decision aids (DAs) among patients facing difficult decisions. Embedded in the pilot test of a questionnaire, this study aimed to measure the association between health literacy and pregnant women’s intention to use a DA to decide about prenatal screening. We recruited a convenience sample of 45 pregnant women in three clinical sites (family practice teaching unit, birthing center and obstetrical ambulatory care clinic). We asked participating women to complete a self-administered questionnaire assessing their intention to use a DA to decide about prenatal screening and assessed their health literacy levels using one subjective and two objective scales. RESULTS: Two of the three scales discriminated between levels of health literacy (three numeracy questions and three health literacy questions). We found a positive correlation between pregnant women’s intention to use a DA and subjective health literacy (Spearman coefficient, Rho 0.32, P = 0.04) but not objective health literacy (Spearman coefficient, Rho 0.07, P = 0.65). Hence subjective health literacy may affect the intention to use a DA among pregnant women facing a decision about prenatal screening. CONCLUSION: Special attention should be given to pregnant women with lower health literacy levels to increase their intention to use a DA and ensure that every pregnant women can give informed and value-based consent to prenatal screening. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-016-2141-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.