Health literacy and sources of health information for caregivers of urban children with asthma

Abstract

Little is known about the resources used by urban caregivers of children with asthma to obtain health information. The authors analyzed data for 304 families of children with persistent asthma to describe (1) sources of health information, (2) access and use of Internet resources, and (3) the association between the caregiver's health literacy (HL) and use of health information sources. Overall, 37% of caregivers had limited HL. Most families received health information from a health care professional (94%), written sources (51%), family/friends (42%), non-print media (34%), and the Internet (30%). Less than half of caregivers had access to the Internet at home, but 73% reported Internet use in the past year. Caregivers with adequate HL were more likely to obtain information from multiple sources and to use and have access to the Internet. The results suggest that HL is associated with where caregivers obtain health information from for their children and their use of the Internet.