Friday, August 27, 2010

Health literacy indicators

DSS Research specialises in market research for the healthcare industry in the USA; therefore it aims (I assume) to show how it can help them maximise profits, which can be done by keeping those who take out health insurance healthier, so people don't make so many claims (or am I being cynical here?) Anyway, this "Health Care Engagement Index" did seem interesting and relevant to those aiming to improve health information literacy. Also, for those interested in information literacy indicators, the inclusion of "behaviours" and "attitudes" is interesting (i.e. it isn't just a matter of testing skill and knowledge).
"To help our clients identify the level of involvement of their customers and how best to encourage those consumers to adopt healthy behaviors, DSS Research applied its years of experience in the health care industry to create a definitive measure of consumer engagement. The DSS Health Care Engagement Index™ (HCEI™) uses health literacy, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors to measure each consumer’s involvement in their personal health care and the health care system overall."
The 4 constructs they look at are: health care literacy, health care knowledge, health care attitudes and health care behaviours
http://www.dssresearch.com/insurance/products_services/engagement/use_hcei_for_free.asp
There are some results (identifying four degrees of engagement: disengaged, reactive, involved, and engaged) at
http://www.dssresearch.com/insurance/products_services/engagement/engagement_results.asp
Photo by Sheila Webber: Memorial benches, Happy Valley, Llandudno, Wales, August 2010. I have never seen so many memorial benches in any other town: a lot of people loved holidaying in Llandudno.

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