The Role of Health Literacy and Social Networks in Arthritis Patients' Health Information-Seeking Behavior: A Qualitative Study

Table 1

Classification of health literacy (adapted from Field et al. [8]).

Health literacy level	Classification criteria
Level 1—low health literacy	Little or no understanding of health information, use of nontechnical language, corresponding to Field et al.’s “Doing what I’m told”—for instance, participants who did not fully understand their arthritis or their arthritis pain medication and were not interested in further treatment details.
Level 2—intermediate health literacy	Some understanding of health information, use of a mix of technical and nontechnical language, corresponding to Field et al.’s “Leaving it up to your GP”—for instance, participants who described good relations with their GP and maintained that they received enough information about their arthritis and arthritis pain medication for their needs.
Level 3—high health literacy	Good to excellent understanding of health information, use of appropriate technical language, corresponding to Field et al.’s “Candidates for concordance”—for instance, participants who had a good to excellent level of understanding about their arthritis and arthritis pain medication and often sourced more information about their condition and its treatment.