Health literacy in patients with chronic hepatitis B attending a tertiary hospital in Melbourne: a questionnaire based survey

Dahl, Tanya FM; Cowie, Benjamin C; Biggs, Beverley-Ann; Leder, Karin; MacLachlan, Jennifer H; Marshall, Caroline

doi:10.1186/1471-2334-14-537

Table 2 Participant responses to Questionnaire 2 assessing HBV knowledge (N = 48)

From: Health literacy in patients with chronic hepatitis B attending a tertiary hospital in Melbourne: a questionnaire based survey

Knowledge questions	Answer	No.	%
Why are you coming to this clinic?	Hepatitis B	43	78
	Hepatitis	3	5
	Other (incorrect/unsure)	9	16
What causes hepatitis B?	Concept of Virus	19	44
What causes hepatitis B?	Concept of something attacking liver/infection	3	7
N = 43- Significant prompting^†	Concept of something attacking liver/infection	3	7
	Incorrect	4	9
	Unsure	17	40
How can hepatitis B affect your body?	Affects the liver	36	65
	Jaundice	2	4
	Fatigue	5	9
Multiple answers allowed	Asymptomatic	7	13
	Liver damage, cirrhosis	6	11
	Liver cancer	10	18
	Incorrect	3	5
	Unsure	14	24
	Emotional/stigma	5	9
Can Hepatitis B be spread to someone else?	Yes	50	91
	No	2	4
	Unsure	3	5
How can hepatitis Be spread to someone else?	Sexual transmission	27	49
How can hepatitis Be spread to someone else?	Blood contact	35	64
Unprompted^‡
Multiple answers possible
	Needle contamination	7	13
	Perinatal	9	16
	Medical contamination	5	9
	Other- Bodily fluids, Nail clipping, Saliva	13	24
	Incorrect	4	7
Prompted Transmission: No. % correct	Sharing food	41	75
	Sexual Contact	49	89
	Contact with infected blood	51	93
	Kissing	26	47
	From mother to child during birth	45	82
	Unclean needles	48	87
	Breathing	44	80
	Mosquitoes	23	42
	Blood transfusion	50	91
	Unclean medical equipment	47	85
Why are you being treated/starting treatment for Hepatitis B? N = 31	Mentioned virus only	10	32
	Mentioned liver damage only	11	35
	Mentioned both	2	7
	Unsure/Incorrect	8	26
Those on treatment N = 29 (53% of cohort)	Correctly named medication	16	55
	Indefinite antiviral course	22	76
	Never skip dose	21	72
Do you know why you are not being treated for Hepatitis B? N = 24 (44% of cohort)	Mentioned virus	8	33
	Mentioned liver damage	2	8
	Mentioned both	2	8
	Unsure/Incorrect	10	42
	Other	2	8
Is there anything you can do to improve your Hepatitis B? Multiple answers allowed N = 51	Yes	43	84
	Reduce alcohol	24	47
	Stop smoking	7	14
	Lose weight/exercise	10	20
	Treatment	5	10
	Other- Iron and Vit D supplement, being healthy	2	4
	Incorrect	7	13
Do you feel comfortable telling family and household members about this condition?	Yes	51	93
	No	4	7
Do you feel comfortable telling friends and people you work with?	Yes	19	35
	No	36	65
Do you usually understand what the doctor tells you about Hepatitis B?	Yes	52	95
	No	3	5
Do you think the explanation of Hepatitis B by your doctor was adequate?	Yes	50	91
	No	5	9
Other medical conditions	Yes	36	65
Other medical conditions	No	19	35

^†This question was not answered correctly during the piloting period, therefore these participants were not included in the results for this question. All the other participants received significant prompting such as: “What is hepatitis B in your body? Is it a germ, or microbe, or something else?” The results of this question were not included in the knowledge assessment, as the question was often misunderstood and therefore appears not to be a good assessment of knowledge.
^‡For transmission questions, patients were first asked if HBV could be spread to someone else, and if yes, how it could be spread. They were then prompted as to whether HBV can be spread by sharing food, sexual intercourse, and so on.

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ISSN: 1471-2334

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