Do people with limited health literacy access and take up treatment in a national digital mental health service? A prospective cohort study of 4578 service users
Findings indicate that a meaningful proportion of routine care dMH service users have limited health literacy, and this does not appear to impede access to the treatments provided by these services. Thus, dMH services may go some of the way to providing mental health treatment for groups who face heightened barriers to accessing healthcare. Further research is needed to ascertain whether limited health literacy impacts on users' ongoing treatment engagement and outcomes, as well as which aspects of dMH service design and delivery may benefit users with diverse health literacy levels.
Authors
- Julie Ayre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5279-5189)
- Blake Farran Dear (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9324-3092)
- Danielle Marie Muscat (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6106-6298)
- Taylor Hathway (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6286-4627)
- Madelyne A. Bisby (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4354-3684)
- Isabella Choi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6033-1563)
- Alana Fisher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6027-659X)
- Lauren Staples (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3401-6815)
- Nickolai Titov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7268-729X)
- Atria Rezwan
Institutions
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- New South Wales Department of Health (AU)
- Sydney Local Health District (AU)
- Macquarie University (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Patient Education and Counseling
- Published
- 2025-10-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2025.109397
- Primary Topic
- Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00