Health literacy

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Gwenn Scott

University of Texas Medical Branch, USA

: J Nurs Patient Care

Abstract

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Health literacy is the degree to which individuals has the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions and follow instructions to treatment. Most health information is written at the 10th grade level or higher. The average person in the U.S. reads at an 8th grade level. Reading at or below the 5th grade level in the U.S. are 20% of adults, 40% of older adults, 50% African-Americans and Hispanics.

Biography

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Gwenn Scott has completed her Diploma in Nursing in 1976, BSN from the University of Incarnate Word San Antonio in 1987, MSN in 1990 from the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, Post-graduate as a Family Nurse Practitioner in 1998 from the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, Doctoral studies in 2013 from the University of Alabama. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Family Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, USA.