Using an Intervention Adapted to the Health Literacy Level to Improve Adherence to Medical Recommendations

Summary

Health literacy is the ability to access, understand, evaluate and apply information in order to communicate with health professionals and understand health instructions but also, promote, maintain and improve health throughout life. Health literacy is known as a health determinant. Level of Health Literacy is low or limited within 47% of interrogated people in Europe, resulting in an inability to understand and/or use written texts and digital concepts about one's health.

There is a demonstrated link between low HL and low therapeutic adherence, an increase in the number of re-admissions, and more generally poor health or survival that is even more limited. An association between low LS and higher health care costs has also been reported in the USA and Switzerland. WHO highlight the central role of Health Literacyin health inequalities, regardless of the region of the world.

The investigator chose to conduct this study in patients hospitalized for an acute cardiovascular event: acute myocardial infarction or acute decompensated heart failure , as these patients have cumulative risk factors for misuse and medication errors. They are hospitalized in emergency, for shorter and shorter periods and are discharged with complex drug treatments. The data show that the return home after acute hospitalization for these conditions is a particularly high-risk period for medication errors and misuse, especially with low level of Health Literacy. The proportion of patients with preventable adverse events in the weeks following their return home ranges from 23% to 30% and nearly 60% are re-hospitalized within 6 months.

The hypothesis of the study is that in patients hospitalized for cute myocardial infarctionor acute decompensated heart failurewith low Health Literacy levels, information on discharge treatment using appropriate tools and techniques will reduce the risk of patient-related medication errors or misuse within 30 days of discharge.

The purpose of this study is to develop an educational intervention model adapted to low Health Literacy levels and routinely feasible, even in case of short stays, in complementarity with traditional therapeutic education programmes that require higher investments and are therefore not accessible to all patients. This innovative approach could then be applied to a large number of chronic diseases.

Conditions

• Acute Decompensated Heart Failure
• Acute Myocardial Infarction

Interventions

OTHER

Interventional educational toolkit specific to low Health Literacy patients, designed with patients and health professionals.

Three interviews between the patient and a health advisor trained for the study: two times before discharge from hospital and a telephone reminder within 3 weeks after discharge. First and second interview: the nurse will evolve using tools developed in the first phase of the study. The nurse will provide detailed personalized information on the patient's discharge order and illness and the action to be taken depending on the potential situations the patient may encounter. Telephone interview: within 3 weeks after discharge, the nurse will repeat the elements of the first interview with the patient to verify that the information has been properly understood and retained and that the patient is able to adopt appropriate behaviors in high-risk situations. Two interviews by phone with a clinical reseach assistant at 30 days et 90 days after discharge which consist of questionnaire.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hospices Civils de Lyon

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Julie HAESEBAERT, MD · Hospices Civils de Lyon

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-06-26

Primary Completion

2027-12-26

Completion

2027-12-26

Countries

• France

Study Locations