P-310: Health literacy and pediatric type 2 diabetes: developing culturally responsive family interventions
K McKenzie, S Zooker, T Burton, E Estrada, A EddingtonAbstract
Introduction
Families with type 2 diabetes (T2D), especially those from historically marginalized communities, have greater difficulty implementing and sustaining healthy lifestyle changes and self-management behaviors for a range of reasons, including impairments in health literacy (HL). Families with low health literacy are at risk for poor diabetes outcomes such as poor glycemic control, retinopathy, and end-stage renal disease.
Objectives
This study aims to collect baseline data during an interdisciplinary diabetes clinic in the United States to expand the literature on HL within families with T2D and implement evidenced based treatment plans. It was hypothesized that higher HL scores would be correlated with higher HbA1c levels.
Methods
Eligibility criteria include: 1) age between 13 and 20 years, 2) English or Spanish speaking, 3) and a diagnosis of T2D. Eighty-five HL screens were completed before clinic appointments using three Likert scale questions (e.g. “How often do you have someone help you read hospital materials?”). Higher scores (0-4 good; 5-8 moderate; 9-12 delayed) indicate poor HL. Responses were scored and indicated no deficits, moderate deficits, or deficits in HL.
Results
Overall, 69.4% (n = 59) of patients had no HL deficits, 25.9% (n = 22) had moderate HL deficits, and 4.7% (n = 4) had notable HL deficits. The mean hemoglobin A1c was 7.24% (SD = 2.34) for patients with no HL deficits, 7.28% (SD = 2.36) for moderate HL deficits, and 8.53% (SD = 3.39) for notable HL deficits. A Pearson’s R showed a significant positive correlation between HL and A1c, r(72)=2.06, p=.04.
Conclusions
Culturally relevant strategies are needed to implement evidenced based treatment plans within families from marginalized communities who have inadequate HL. Though this study identified a connection between HL and health outcomes in pediatric T2D, future research is needed to assess other known barriers for families from marginalized communities such as financial problems, language barriers, and transportation barriers.