Gesundheitskompetenz unter Krebserkrankten
摘要
A large proportion of the German population shows limited or insufficient health literacy. This also applies to people with chronic illnesses, such as cancer patients. This does not only concern general health literacy, but also nutrition-related health literacy, which can have a negative impact on quality of life.
ObjectiveThe study investigated the feasibility of a digital nutritional intervention and evaluated its impact on nutrition-related health literacy in patients with renal cell carcinoma.
Materials and methodsHealth literacy was assessed using an online pre- and post-test with a validated questionnaire from the German version of the Newest Vital Sign as well as a short form of the Health Literacy Survey Germany (HLS-GER) and eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) (an eight-item measure of e‑health literacy). The intervention consisted of two online seminars on nutrition and health literacy. Patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma undergoing treatment with a minimum age of 18 years were included. The endpoint was feasibility of the intervention as measured by the number of participants and changes in health literacy.
ResultsFollowing the intervention, 65.2% of the 23 participants showed a tendency toward improvement in nutrition-related health literacy, as reflected by the mean score across all questions. In 21.7% of cases, this improvement was statistically significant. Analysis of individual questions also indicated that participants tended to improve in their ability to find, understand, and apply nutritional information.
ConclusionThe study results suggest a supportive effect of a digital intervention on health literary. Although further studies are required to confirm these results, structured training programs similar to those for other diseases should be established for cancer patients.