Health literacy and people with mental illness

Abstract

A high level of health literacy is essential for successful management of disorders such as schizophrenia and depression, yet there has been little research into the role that health literacy plays in the lives of people with mental illness. Many people who live with serious mental illness interact with a number of clinicians, for both acute and chronic treatment. They may take complex medication regimens, and some medications require monitoring and have potentially dangerous side effects. The health literacy demands are therefore considerable. However, many psychiatric disorders can affect cognitive function. Disorders like dementia cause an obvious impairment, but illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression are also associated with more subtle cognitive deficits. All of these factors impact on the everyday health literacy of people with mental illness. Limited health literacy may serve as a barrier to recovery and social participation. The healthcare context is also important. This chapter considers how health literacy affects people with mental illness in two very different health care systems: the U.S.A, which has a system of privatized medicine, and Australia, which has universal coverage. © 2013 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.