Bridging the gap in health literacy research: The inclusion of individuals with visual impairments

Abstract

Objectives: Patient education and health literacy aim to enhance understanding of health and self-care for optimal health outcomes. However, the attention towards populations with visual impairments requiring specialized accommodations for improved health literacy and healthcare access appears to be insufficient METHODS: In an effort to bridge this gap, we conducted a scoping review focusing on health literacy studies undertaken specifically for individuals with visual impairments.

Results: We encapsulate the main findings and constraints of preceding studies and deliberate on the influence of health literacy research for individuals with visual impairments on healthcare inequalities and health disparities.

Conclusions: A health-literate approach, combined with an accessible healthcare environment, can serve as a catalyst to motivate individuals with visual impairments to actively engage in their self-care practices.

Practice implications: It is of utmost urgency to develop and validate a health literacy assessment tool for visually impaired individuals, and to utilize it for providing healthcare interventions as well as health education.

Keywords: Accessibility; Health disparities; Health literacy; Self-care; Visual impairment.