Kirsten J Mccaffery
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 2245502 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Kirsten J Mccaffery |
| PRENOMES | Kirsten J |
| SOBRENOME | Mccaffery |
| ASSINATURA | MCCAFFERY K J |
| AFILIAÇÕES | The University of Sydney |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2696-5006 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 43 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 22 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 43 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2004 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 2 |
A scoping review of measures to assess health professionals’ competencies related to health literacy
Health professionals play an important role in addressing health literacy and ensuring that health systems and information are easy to understand, access, and navigate. We conducted a scoping review to identify and describe measures and tools that assess health professionals’ health literacy competency related to knowledge, skills, practices, attitudes, self-efficacy, and behavioural intentions. Electronic databases MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PubMe…
Psychosocial Impact of Breast Density Notification Through Breast Cancer Screening
INTRODUCTION: Breast density notification is now implemented in the United States and parts of Australia and Canada despite limited understanding of how it impacts women and their psychosocial health. This study explored the psychosocial impact of receiving a notification of dense breasts through a population-based breast cancer screening programme. METHODS: We interviewed 19 Australian women who indicated being anxious in a survey. This survey w…
Safeguarding Quality in Health and Medical Science Information Today
Strengthening health literacy research through consumer engagement
Consumer engagement activities are variably implemented across research settings, and the ‘science’ of consumer engagement is still in its infancy. This study aimed to explore the experiences of community panel members who supported a university-based health literacy research group that delivers experimental and applied health research across a wide variety of health topics. An independent researcher interviewed participants, asking them to refle…
Perspectives of people with chronic illness about plain language summaries
People with chronic health conditions tend to look for information from a range of sources. Although information online is accessible, the quality varies and articles in scientific journals are not written for a general audience. Given this, plain language summaries (PLSs) may be a useful source of information, especially for people with chronic medical conditions. PLSs contain reliable information that is written in plain, easy-to-understand lan…
Co‐Designing a Framework for Social Media Health Communication to Young People
BACKGROUND: Social media became a key communication channel for public health agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for reaching younger populations less engaged with traditional channels. However, official social media health communication often fails to appeal to young people. Improving public health agency use of social media for health communication is vital to ensure health messages reach this priority population effectively, esp…
Enhancing digital health literacy in adolescents
Use of the co-designed educational resource misAdventures improved adolescents' digital health literacy and self-efficacy. Adolescents acknowledged they learnt through using the app and believed it would change the way they used online health information. A brief, self-directed digital educational resource can improve adolescents' ability and disposition to identify trustworthy health information online and on social media
Asking The Right Questions
Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) continues to be the leading burden of disease globally. With the growing population of people with diabetes, it is essential to deliver integrated care that is value-based and patient-centred, as well as high-value to providers and the healthcare system. Community-facing digital interventions have transformed the care delivered to these patients. However, few have been co-designed to specifically address patient …
Trust in the healthcare system declines after exposure to information about the harms and benefits of breast cancer screening
Conflicting health messages negatively impact trust. Breast cancer screening (BCS) is one area of healthcare where conflicting messages are common. We examined whether women's healthcare system trust was impacted after exposure to information about harms and benefits of BCS. We enrolled 497 women into this study. Participants were administered a decision aid (DA) containing information about the harms and benefits of BCS and reported their health…
A Decision Aid for Patients Considering Surgery for Sciatica
BACKGROUND: Surgery can help patients with leg pain caused by sciatica recover faster, but by 12 months outcomes are similar to nonsurgical management. For many the decision to have surgery may require reflection, and patient decision aids are an evidence-based clinical tool that can help guide patients through this decision. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop and refine a decision aid for patients with sciatica who are deciding whet…
Effect of Virtual Care on Diabetes management
Introduction: Diabetes is an increasingly prevalent and costly chronic disease worldwide and a large cause of unnecessary disease burden. As a growing health issue, diabetes needs a focus on better management by community providers, rather than relying on an overstretched hospital-based specialist service. Conventional outpatient care is increasingly insufficient to manage diabetes. The rapid uptake of telehealth and other forms of virtual care d…
Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation of an Innovative Primary and Secondary Diabetes Clinic in Western Sydney
The findings suggest this integrated care model was feasible and perceived as beneficial by both patients and providers. The clinic offers a promising model of practice that could be developed further to roll out in other regions for rural delivery of care
Covid-19 messages targeting young people on social media
Health authorities utilized social media during the COVID-19 pandemic to disseminate critical and timely health messages, specifically targeting priority groups such as young people. To understand how social media was used for this purpose, we investigated the content of COVID-19-related social media posts targeting young people (16–29 years old) shared by Australian health departments. Posts targeting young people with COVID-19 information were …
Early Covid-19 Attitudes and Behaviors and Their Associations With Later Infection
BACKGROUND: At the onset of the pandemic, there was poor public awareness and inaction in response to COVID-19; it is less known whether this translated to subsequent infections. OBJECTIVES: To explore whether adults who perceived COVID-19 as less of a threat and who were not taking early actions were more likely to become infected over the following year. RESEARCH DESIGN: Survey data from the ongoing (COVID-19 & Chronic Conditions (C3) anonymize…
Type 2 diabetes self-management schemas across diverse health literacy levels
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore how people with diabetes and diverse health literacy levels conceptualise their experience and efforts to engage in self-management behaviours (their self-management 'schemas'). DESIGN: A qualitative design was applied. METHODS: Twenty-six people in Sydney, Australia, took part in semi-structured interviews, which were audio-recorded and coded using Framework analysis. RESULTS: Half the participants…
Covid-19 Testing and Vaccine Willingness
Objective: The current study examined patterns in COVID-19 testing and vaccination intentions across multiple language groups in Greater Western Sydney, Australia. Methods: Participants completed a cross-sectional survey available from March 21 to July 9, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. Surveys were available in English or translated (11 languages). Participants could complete surveys independently or with support from bilingual staff. Logistic regres…
Demographics, health literacy and health locus of control beliefs of Australian women who take complementary medicine products during pregnancy and breastfeeding
BACKGROUND: Pregnant and breastfeeding women's use of complementary medicine products (CMPs) is common, and possibly associated with autonomous health care behaviours. However, the health literacy levels and health locus of control (HLOC) beliefs of women who use CMPs in pregnancy and lactation have not been previously assessed in a large Australian sample. AIM: The aim of this study is to determine the health literacy levels and HLOC beliefs of …
Covid-19 Vaccine Misperceptions in a Community Sample of Adults Aged 18–49 Years in Australia
Central to a successful population vaccination program is high uptake of vaccines. However, COVID-19 vaccine uptake may be impeded by beliefs based on misinformation. We sought to understand the prevalence and nature of misbeliefs about COVID-19 vaccines, and identify associated factors, shortly after commencement of Australia's national vaccine rollout. A cross-sectional survey was administered to unvaccinated young adults (n = 2050) in Australi…
Australian General Practitioners’ Current Knowledge, Understanding, and Feelings Regarding Breast Density Information and Notification
There is strong support for notifying patients of breast density, and interest in further education and training among the surveyed GPs. As GPs play a central role in cancer prevention and control, their involvement in discussions related to breast density notification, evaluation and appraisal of evidence, development of communication strategies, and participation in ongoing research on the topic will be indispensable
Adolescents’ self-efficacy and digital health literacy
Whilst adolescents possess many important digital health literacy skills and generally feel self-efficacious in using them, their critical health literacy needs improving. Adolescents desire increased digital health literacy so they can confidently appraise health information they find online and on social media. Co-designed educational interventions with adolescents and health providers are required
Psychological Wellbeing and Academic Experience of University Students in Australia during Covid-19
COVID-19 has created significant challenges for higher education institutions and major disruptions in teaching and learning. To explore the psychological wellbeing of domestic and international university students during the COVID-19 pandemic, an online cross-sectional survey recruited 787 university students (18+ years) currently studying at an Australian university. In total, 86.8% reported that COVID-19 had significantly impacted their studie…
Impact of diagnostic labels and causal explanations for weight gain on diet intentions, cognitions and emotions
Health literacy and disparities in Covid-19–related knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in Australia
OBJECTIVES: To explore the variation in understanding of, attitudes towards, and uptake of, health advice on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the 2020 pandemic stage 3 restrictions ('lockdown') by health literacy in the Australian population. STUDY DESIGN: National cross-sectional community survey. SETTING: Australian general public. PARTICIPANTS: Adults aged over 18 years (N = 4362). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Knowledge, attitudes and beha…
Women’s health literacy and the complex decision‐making process to use complementary medicine products in pregnancy and lactation
BACKGROUND: Little is known about women's decision-making processes regarding using complementary medicine products (CMPs) during pregnancy or lactation. OBJECTIVES: To explore the decision-making processes of women choosing to use CMPs in pregnancy and lactation; and to investigate how women's health literacy influences their decisions. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were held with twenty-five p…
Improving health literacy through adult basic education in Australia
Adults with low literacy are less empowered to take care of their health, have poorer health outcomes and higher healthcare costs. We facilitated partnerships between adult literacy teachers and community health providers to deliver a health literacy training program in adult basic education classrooms. Following course completion we interviewed 19 adult education teachers (15 delivering the health literacy program; 4 delivering standard literacy…
Exploring patient involvement in healthcare decision making across different education and functional health literacy groups
Insights into the concept and measurement of health literacy from a study of shared decision-making in a low literacy population
This article explores the concept and measurement of health literacy in the context of shared health decision-making. It draws upon a series of qualitative and quantitative studies undertaken in the development and evaluation of a bowel cancer screening decision aid for low literacy populations. The findings indicate that different types of health literacy (functional, interactive and critical) are required in decision-making and present a set of…
Decision-Making Preferences and Deprescribing
This study provides a novel typology to describe differences between older people who are happy to take multiple medicines, and those who are open to deprescribing. To enable shared decision-making, prescribers need to adapt their communication about polypharmacy based on their patients' attitudes to medicines and preferences for involvement in decisions
Measuring cancer knowledge
Studies evaluating public knowledge of the warning signs and risk factors associated with cancer have varied in the question format used. Those using a prompted (recognition) format have tended to find higher levels of knowledge than those using an unprompted, recall format. The aim of this study was to quantify the effect of prompting on knowledge of the seven warning signs of cancer, and risk factors for breast and bowel cancer, using data from…
Assessing psychosocial/quality of life outcomes in screening
High quality research on the psychosocial outcomes of screening programmes is urgently needed. Assessing non-medical outcomes of screening presents constant challenges. Marteau and colleagues1 offer some insight into the complexities of assessing non-medical outcomes in their study of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening. The paper reports that self assessed health (SAH) was lower among men who were found to have an aortic aneurysm than men …
Measuring cancer knowledge
Studies evaluating public knowledge of the warning signs and risk factors associated with cancer have varied in the question format used. Those using a prompted (recognition) format have tended to find higher levels of knowledge than those using an unprompted, recall format. The aim of this study was to quantify the effect of prompting on knowledge of the seven warning signs of cancer, and risk factors for breast and bowel cancer, using data from…
Information needs and preferences of low and high literacy consumers for decisions about colorectal cancer screening
Context The use of written decision aids (DAs) in clinical practice has proliferated. However, few DAs have been developed for low literacy users, despite this group having low knowledge about healthcare and lacking involvement in health decisions. Objective To explore the information needs and understanding of adults with varying literacy in relation to colorectal cancer screening, and to consider their responses to two versions of a decision ai…
Exploring patient involvement in healthcare decision making across different education and functional health literacy groups
Supporting Patient Autonomy
HPV Vaccine Promotion
What Australian women want and when they want it
Background New testing technologies and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines have recently brought changes to cervical cancer screening. In 2006, the Australian government also changed the protocol for managing abnormal Pap smears. Australian women’s attitudes and preferences to these changes are largely unknown. Quantitative data on information needs and community attitudes to informed decision making in screening in Australia are also limited. O…
The Study of the Prevention of Anal Cancer (SPANC)
Recruitment for the study began in September 2010 and will conclude in mid-2015, with follow up continuing to 2018. Thus far, over 350 men have been recruited from a variety of community-based settings and are broadly representative of the target screening population. The SPANC study is one of only a small number of cohort studies globally to perform HPV, cytology and HRA screening on all participants over multiple time points. The study results …
Insights into the concept and measurement of health literacy from a study of shared decision-making in a low literacy population
This article explores the concept and measurement of health literacy in the context of shared health decision-making. It draws upon a series of qualitative and quantitative studies undertaken in the development and evaluation of a bowel cancer screening decision aid for low literacy populations. The findings indicate that different types of health literacy (functional, interactive and critical) are required in decision-making and present a set of…
Informed choice in bowel cancer screening
Background Offering informed choice in screening is increasingly advocated, but little is known about how evidence‐based information about the benefits and harms of screening influences understanding and participation in screening. Objective We aimed to explore how a bowel cancer screening decision aid influenced decision making and screening behaviour among adults with lower education and literacy. Methods Twenty‐one men and women aged 55–64 yea…
An exploration of decision aid effectiveness
BACKGROUND: Decision aids (DAs) are non-directive communication tools that help patients make value-consistent health-care decisions. However, most DAs have been developed without an explicit theoretical framework, resulting in a lack of understanding of how DAs achieve outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of promoting affective vs. deliberative processing on DA effectiveness based on dual-process theory. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANT…
Development and validation of a question prompt list for parents of children with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder
OBJECTIVES: Question prompt lists (QPLs) are structured lists of disease and treatment-specific questions intended to encourage patient question-asking during consultations with clinicians. The aim of this study was to develop a QPL intended for use by parents of children affected by attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). METHODS: The QPL content (111 questions) was derived through thematic analysis of existing ADHD- and QPL-related res…
Incorporating health literacy in education for socially disadvantaged adults
Positive feasibility results support a larger RCT of the health literacy program. However, there is a need to identify better, multi-dimensional measures of health literacy in order to be able to quantify change in a larger trial. This feasibility study represents the first step in providing the high quality evidence needed to understand the way in which health literacy can be improved and health inequalities reduced through Australian adult educ…
Evaluation of an Australian health literacy training program for socially disadvantaged adults attending basic education classes
Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12616000213448
Qualitative insights into the experience of teaching shared decision making within adult education health literacy programmes for lower‐literacy learners
BACKGROUND: Enhancing health literacy can play a major role in improving healthcare and health across the globe. To build higher-order (communicative/critical) health literacy skills among socially disadvantaged Australians, we developed a novel shared decision making (SDM) training programme for adults with lower literacy. The programme was delivered by trained educators within an adult basic education health literacy course. OBJECTIVE: To explo…
I do want to ask, but I can’t speak’
Fostering two-way communication and patient-centred attitudes among health professionals could help to improve their communication with ethnic minority women. Communication training for health professionals could be included along with the nationwide implementation of written information to improve communication
Decision-Making Preferences and Deprescribing
This study provides a novel typology to describe differences between older people who are happy to take multiple medicines, and those who are open to deprescribing. To enable shared decision-making, prescribers need to adapt their communication about polypharmacy based on their patients' attitudes to medicines and preferences for involvement in decisions
Improving health literacy through adult basic education in Australia
Adults with low literacy are less empowered to take care of their health, have poorer health outcomes and higher healthcare costs. We facilitated partnerships between adult literacy teachers and community health providers to deliver a health literacy training program in adult basic education classrooms. Following course completion we interviewed 19 adult education teachers (15 delivering the health literacy program; 4 delivering standard literacy…
Listening to both sides
This qualitative study compares and contrasts the perspectives of healthcare professionals who treat hepatitis C with those of patients in treatment. Comparative analysis of semi-structured interviews with 20 healthcare professionals and 20 patients undergoing treatment for hepatitis C concluded that patients and healthcare professionals disagreed on the source of communication breakdowns, but both felt that individualised clinical information im…
Women’s health literacy and the complex decision‐making process to use complementary medicine products in pregnancy and lactation
BACKGROUND: Little is known about women's decision-making processes regarding using complementary medicine products (CMPs) during pregnancy or lactation. OBJECTIVES: To explore the decision-making processes of women choosing to use CMPs in pregnancy and lactation; and to investigate how women's health literacy influences their decisions. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were held with twenty-five p…
Health literacy and disparities in Covid-19–related knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in Australia
OBJECTIVES: To explore the variation in understanding of, attitudes towards, and uptake of, health advice on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the 2020 pandemic stage 3 restrictions ('lockdown') by health literacy in the Australian population. STUDY DESIGN: National cross-sectional community survey. SETTING: Australian general public. PARTICIPANTS: Adults aged over 18 years (N = 4362). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Knowledge, attitudes and beha…
Psychological Wellbeing and Academic Experience of University Students in Australia during Covid-19
COVID-19 has created significant challenges for higher education institutions and major disruptions in teaching and learning. To explore the psychological wellbeing of domestic and international university students during the COVID-19 pandemic, an online cross-sectional survey recruited 787 university students (18+ years) currently studying at an Australian university. In total, 86.8% reported that COVID-19 had significantly impacted their studie…
Impact of diagnostic labels and causal explanations for weight gain on diet intentions, cognitions and emotions
Type 2 diabetes self-management schemas across diverse health literacy levels
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore how people with diabetes and diverse health literacy levels conceptualise their experience and efforts to engage in self-management behaviours (their self-management 'schemas'). DESIGN: A qualitative design was applied. METHODS: Twenty-six people in Sydney, Australia, took part in semi-structured interviews, which were audio-recorded and coded using Framework analysis. RESULTS: Half the participants…
Covid-19 Testing and Vaccine Willingness
Objective: The current study examined patterns in COVID-19 testing and vaccination intentions across multiple language groups in Greater Western Sydney, Australia. Methods: Participants completed a cross-sectional survey available from March 21 to July 9, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. Surveys were available in English or translated (11 languages). Participants could complete surveys independently or with support from bilingual staff. Logistic regres…
Medicine (36 obras) · Psychology (29 obras) · Health care (24 obras) · Health literacy (19 obras) · Health Literacy and Information Accessibility (16 obras) · Family medicine (15 obras) · Nursing (15 obras) · Political science (15 obras) · Medical education (13 obras) · Qualitative research (13 obras)