This intervention trial assessed the effect of a customised, structured CVD medication health literacy programme on medication knowledge among 171 Indigenous people aged ≥20 years with, or at high risk of, CVD attending primary care services in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The study participants had at least one clinical diagnosis of a CVD event, or in Canada and Australia had a 5-year CVD risk ≥15%, and were prescribed ≥2 of the following CVD medication classes: statin, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta blockers. They all attended an education session delivered on 3 occasions over 1 month by registered nurses or health educators trained in health literacy and principles of adult education. Each session used an interactive tablet application and the participants received an information booklet and pill card. At baseline (before session 1), the participants displayed a low level of knowledge about the CVD medications; mean percent correct answers were highest for statins (34.0%), 29.4% for aspirin, 26.0% for beta blockers and 22.7% for ACE inhibitors. In adjusted analyses, knowledge scores increased significantly between pre-assessments and post-assessments at all 3 time points for all medication classes (p<0.001). For all 4 medications, the absolute increases in adjusted percent correct items from pre-session 1 to post-session 3 assessments were 60.1% for statins, 76.8% for aspirin, 71.4% for ACE inhibitors and 69.5% for beta blockers.
