Background characteristics of respondents (N=902)
| Variable | N sample | (%) Sample | Percentage of Dutch population* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | |||
| Male | 468 | (51.9) | 49 |
| Female | 434 | (48.1) | 51 |
| Age | |||
| 18–34 | 188 | (20.8) | 27 |
| 35–49 | 249 | (27.6) | 29 |
| 50–64 | 271 | (30.0) | 25 |
| 65+ | 194 | (21.5) | 19 |
| Educational level† | |||
| Low | 438 | (48.6) | – |
| Medium | 226 | (25.1) | – |
| High | 238 | (26.4) | – |
| Subjective health literacy‡ | |||
| Inadequate | 138 | (15.3) | – |
| Adequate | 764 | (84.7) | – |
| Numeracy§ | |||
| Zero questions correct | 89 | (9.9) | – |
| One question correct | 214 | (23.7) | – |
| Two questions correct | 244 | (27.1) | – |
| Three questions correct | 355 | (39.4) | – |
| Patient activation¶ | |||
| Level 1 | 128 | (14.3) | – |
| Level 2 | 222 | (24.7) | – |
| Level 3 | 321 | (35.7) | – |
| Level 4 | 227 | (25.3) | – |
*Based on the 2012 data from Statistics Netherlands.
†Low educational level=no education or only primary education; average education=secondary education; high educational level=tertiary education.
‡Based on the item developed by Chew et al.35 ‘How confident are you filling out medical forms by yourself?’ Inadequate health literacy if the answer is other than ‘extremely’ or ‘quite a bit’ on this item.
§Based on the three items developed by Schwartz et al.37 The maximum number of questions that can be correctly answered is three.
¶Based on the mean score on 13 items from the Dutch PAM13 survey developed by Hibbard et al44 and translated into Dutch by Rademakers et al.39 After calculating mean scores of respondents, the scores were transformed into activation scores and divided into four levels of activation, using the scorecard of Hibbard et al.38 A higher level means higher activation.
PAM, patient activation measure.