Clinical Review
Assessing Health Literacy in Veterans with Diabetes
Fed Pract. 2006 October;23(10):09
Author and Disclosure Information
Donnean T. Thrall, RN, ND, CNS and Katherine N. Bent, RN, PhD, CNS
Dr. Thrall is the clinical nurse specialist for perioperative services at Glens Falls Hospital in Glens Falls, NY. At the time of this research, she was a graduate student at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (UCHSC) School of Nursing and served as a Federal Nursing Research Trainee at the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System (ECHCS), both in Denver. Dr. Bent is the associate chief of the nursing service for research at the VA ECHCS and an assistant professor at the UCHSC School of Nursing. She is also the president of the Council on Nursing and Anthropology.
Recognizing that successful management of diabetes hinges on patients playing an active role in their health care, these VA investigators set out to determine whether their diabetes educational materials were appropriate in the context of their patients' literacy levels.