Physical and Mental Health Literacy and Its Impact on Asian Americans’ Health Outcomes

Background: For Asian Americans (AA), cultural barriers bring an added challenge to accessing and navigating the already very complex US healthcare system which in turn contributes to limited health literacy among this population. While physical and mental health literacy are closely related to a person’s overall health, there is a limited synthesis of published data on the impact of physical and mental health literacy on health outcomes among AA. Purpose of Study: The purpose of this integrative literature review was to review the existing studies on the impact of physical and mental health literacy on general health outcomes among AAs and to examine the relationship between physical and mental health literacy among AAs by evaluating the most up-to-date research. Method: An integrative literature review was utilized to evaluate peer-reviewed articles published from 2007 and 2017 from three databases (CINAHL, PubMed, and PsyInfo). The search terms included: health literacy, Asian Americans, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, mental health literacy, physical and health literacy. This process yielded 12 articles, and a literature review framework developed by Whittemore & Knafl was used for data reduction, display, and comparison. Result: The findings of the literature review reported that low physical health literacy contributed to delayed treatments, inadequate adherence to medication regimen, and a lack of health care knowledge was closely related to self-care abilities among AAs. Additionally, the impacts of low mental health literacy were reported to be related to; 1) negative perceptions toward mental healthcare providers, 2) a lack of awareness of mental health issues, and 3) social isolation and low self-esteem. Interestingly, cultural beliefs, lower acculturation, and limited language proficiency were found to be major challenges attributing to the impacts of physical and mental health literacy in AAs. Conclusion: This integrative literature review found that low health literacy is closely associated with poor physical and mental health outcomes among AAs. They might benefit from health related education regarding their health conditions and utilization of physical and mental health services from community, ultimately reducing health disparities. Keywords: Health literacy, Asian American, Physical health, Mental healt