Assessing the Health Literacy of Parents in a Rural County in Eastern North Carolina

Abstract

Medication administration for children is an important role for parents and requires a basic understanding of medication use by parents. The purpose of this senior honors project was to examine the health literacy of a vulnerable population living in eastern North Carolina and to address the use of over-the-counter (OTC) medication use by this population. This study assessed the health literacy of a subset of parents attending the well child clinics offered by a local county health department. Health care providers in this area identified the overuse of certain OTC medicines as being specifically problematic. The senior honors student and public health nurse preceptor administered the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) assessment tool to 35 parents weekly on four separate clinic days to determine the extent of health literacy in this population. This program evaluation suggests parents in this setting have variable health literacy. This setting might benefit from nursing interventions that target health-teaching populations with limited health literacy.