Health literacy impacts on health outcomes include what?

• A. Knowledge about healthcare systems only.
• B. Health literacy defined as the ability to obtain, process, understand and use health information; low health literacy leads to poorer health outcomes and lower adherence.
• C. Health literacy is only about reading ability.
• D. Inability to access care.

Answer: (B)

Health literacy is the capacity to obtain, process, understand, and use health information to make appropriate health decisions. When this capacity is low, people have trouble following instructions, interpreting medication labels, and managing treatments, which leads to poorer health outcomes and lower adherence to care plans. This broader ability also explains why health outcomes can worsen—patients may miss preventive services, struggle with chronic disease management, and end up with more emergency visits or hospitalizations.

The other statements are too narrow: knowing about healthcare systems alone doesn’t capture the skills needed to process and apply information; reading ability is only one facet of health literacy; and while not being able to access care can stem from low literacy, access is not the defining scope of health literacy itself.