Improving Health Insurance Literacy Among Utah's Hispanic Population

This is a test of an existing health insurance education program (HIEP) in the Utah Hispanic community (aged 18-64). The study will evaluate whether the HIEP delivered by Utah Health Policy Project (UHPP) staff improves participants' health insurance and cost-related literacy. Participants will complete a brief baseline survey, be guided through the HIEP by UHPP staff, and complete a brief survey after completing the sessions.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Health Insurance Education Program (HIEP)

Detailed Description

The goal of this research is to refine and pilot test an existing health insurance education program (HIEP) to improve health insurance and cost-related literacy among the Hispanic community in Utah. This study will be conducted in conjunction with the Utah Health Policy Project, which has long been active in the Hispanic community and has been instrumental in reducing the number of uninsured adults and children in Utah. Initially, community and key-informant feedback on how to best adapt this intervention to the Hispanic community, including what topics are most important, and how the intervention should be delivered, will be obtained. After the HIEP is adapted accordingly, it will be investigated to see if it improves participants' health insurance and cost-related literacy.

Upon enrollment, participants will fill out a survey containing questions about their current health insurance, employment, demographics, acculturation, preferred language and health insurance knowledge. Participants will then receive an educational session surrounding health insurance use and laws. This educational sessions will be conducted, in person, over video conference calls, or over the telephone, and will cover:

• Overview of health insurance options and understanding of insurance and costs
• Learning about types of insurance coverage and how to select/access coverage
• Navigating one's coverage plan
• Managing care costs

This sessions will be 60 minutes.

After completing the HIEP participants will be given a second survey including similar questions to those in the first survey. This survey will include questions to obtain feedback on the acceptability of the content and potential implementation issue areas, as well as any discordance in cultural values, beliefs, or feelings about health insurance.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 12
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Utah
    • West Valley City, Utah, United States, 84119
      • Utah Health Policy Project

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 64 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Self-identify as Hispanic
• Resident of Utah
• Primary Policy Holder
• Recently enrolled in health insurance within the past year

Exclusion Criteria:

• Younger than 18 years of age
• Not Hispanic or Latino/Latina in origin
• Non-Utah resident
• Non Policy holder
• Not recently enrolled in health insurance

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: HIEP intervention; Participants will be given the health insurance intervention from Utah Health Policy Project staff, a 60 minute long, educational learning session.	Behavioral: Health Insurance Education Program (HIEP); [See arm/group description]

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Enrolled Individuals	A count of the individuals who enrolled in the study.	Post-Assessment survey (Weeks 19 (+/- 2 weeks))
Number of Completed Sessions Per Enrolled Individual	The average number of completed sessions per individual enrolled in the study.	Post-Assessment survey (Weeks 19 (+/- 2 weeks))

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in the Health Insurance Literacy Measure Based on Age Group	Differences between Health Insurance Literacy Measure (HILM) reported at the baseline and post-assessment survey. Differences will be examined by age. Lower scores indicate lower health insurance literacy, higher scores are better. Scores could range from 6 to 24. We report on a limited number of item from the Health Insurance Literacy Measure. We will report mean and standard deviation at both time points.	Baseline (Week 0) and Post Assessment survey (Weeks 19 (+/- 2 weeks))
Changes in the Health Insurance Literacy Measure Based on Language Spoken	Differences between Health Insurance Literacy Measure (HILM) reported at the baseline and post-assessment survey. Differences will be examined by language spoken. Lower scores indicate lower health insurance literacy, higher scores are better. Scores could range from 6 to 24. We report on a limited number of item from the Health Insurance Literacy Measure. We will report mean and standard deviation at both time points.	Baseline (Week 0) and Post Assessment survey (Weeks 19 (+/- 2 weeks))

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Utah
• Collaborators: National Institutes of Health (NIH); National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Anne C Kirchhoff, PhD, University of Utah Department of Pediatrics

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 20, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 12, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): June 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 19, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 29, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): April 1, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): October 9, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 12, 2024
• Last Verified: September 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Literacy; Health Insurance
• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB_00138483; UL1TR002538 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No