Health Literacy as a Process: Caseworker Perspectives on HIV Health Literacy

Health status and health literacy are interrelated. Previous research suggests that this relationship must be considered when providing services to HIV positive individuals. However, the pathways through which health literacy affects HIV remain unclear. This study seeks to understand the connections between health literacy and HIV from a caseworker perspective. Results suggest that caseworkers reject static definitions of health literacy by conceptualizing it as an emergent process. Caseworkers also expressed the need for development of subcomponents upon which health literacy is founded: (a) the building of trust, and (b) understanding clients' hierarchy of needs.