Assessment of the Health Literacy Among Arab Women in East Jerusalem

Hadassah Medical Center

Status: Completed

Conditions: Cardiovascular Diseases; Health Literacy

Treatments: Other: Heath literacy assessment in Arab women in East Jerusalem

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03973606

HMO007819

Details and patient eligibility

About

This is a two-stage study: The objective of the first stage is to explore health literacy (HL) needs and preferences of Arab women through conducting Focus Group Discussions (FGDs).

The second stage will employ conducting a HL intervention tailored to the participants' needs and preferences as presented in the FGDs. Objectives include increasing the percentage of women who utilize patient-doctor communication skills and increasing their cardiovascular disease (CVD) knowledge.The intervention consists of four sessions that will be conducted in municipality-sponsored women's groups in Jerusalem and other Arab communities. Questionnaires will be completed before and three months after the intervention. The study answers the following: Can HL workshops improve patient-doctor communication skills and CVD knowledge in Arab women.

Full description

Arab women in Israel are at high risk of low health literacy due to lower levels of education and low socio-economic status. Health literacy (HL) refers to the skills and competencies enabling people to obtain and interpret health information and apply their knowledge to inform health-related decision-making. It's also defined as "the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, understand, and process basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions".

The objective of the first stage of the study is to explore health literacy needs and preferences of Arab women through conducting Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with women in East Jerusalem. Six different focus groups will be conducted at three of the six municipality community centers in East Jerusalem. Participants will be recruited through identified community centers.

Each group will meet once for up to two hours. The study will be explained to them by an investigator who has been trained in the administration of focus groups, and they will be asked to sign a consent form. Discussions will be recorded without the names of the participants (they will be instructed not to use their names once the recording begins). At the end of the meeting, each participant will receive a bag and pamphlets with information regarding women's health.

The second stage will employ conducting a HL intervention tailored to the participants' needs and preferences as presented in the FGDs. Objectives include increasing the percentage of women who utilize patient-doctor communication skills and increasing their cardiovascular disease (CVD) knowledge.The intervention consists of four sessions that will be conducted in municipality-sponsored women's groups in Jerusalem and other Arab communities. Questionnaires will be completed before and three months after the intervention. The study answers the following: Can HL workshops improve patient-doctor communication skills and CVD knowledge in Arab women.

Enrollment: 306 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 85 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• All women aged 18-85 that attend and participate in the community's women's groups
• They must speak Arabic

Exclusion criteria

• Not in the age range of 18-85.
• Do not speak Arabic.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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306 participants in 2 patient groups

Arab Women health literacy focus groups

No Intervention group

Description:

Arab women in East Jerusalem will be part of focus groups. During the focus groups, a set of pre-prepared questions will be presented to the participants. The focus groups will be recorded and analyzed verbatim.

Health literacy workshop

Experimental group

Description:

Women from East-Jerusalem and other Arab communities in Israel will be invited to participate in a 4-sessions workshop designed to improve health literacy, self-efficacy when interacting with their physician and increase their cardiovascular health knowledge.

Treatment:

Other: Heath literacy assessment in Arab women in East Jerusalem