Development of a Tool to Assess Spanish-Language Genetic Literacy

Background:

• Health literacy means being able to understand basic health care information. This information can include drug labels and prescription instructions. It can also include doctor s instructions. Better health literacy can help improve a person s health outcomes.
• Many minorities have low health literacy. Latinos in particular have both low health literacy and poor health outcomes. Language barriers such as poor reading skills can contribute to problems with health literacy. Researchers want to develop a new health literacy measuring tool. This tool will focus on genetic literacy, which involves understanding personal risk of health problems. The tool will be written in Spanish. The study will work with Spanish-speaking Latinos to develop and test this genetic literacy tool.

Objectives:

• To develop a Spanish-language tool to study genetic literacy.

Eligibility:

• Spanish-speaking Latino adults between 18 and 75 years of age.

Design:

• Participants will be screened with a brief interview. No personal samples will be needed.
• Participants will complete the genetic literacy questionnaire. It will be given in Spanish.
• The tool will ask about participants personal and family health history. It will also ask about their understanding of genetic terms and genetic testing. Other personal information, such as level of education, will be collected.
• Participants will receive a gift card for completing the survey.
• No treatment or genetic counseling will be provided as part of this study.