Background: Health literacy may influence the transition from pediatric care to adult care in adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD). It is postulated that one influencing factor of health literacy in adolescents with SCD is health-seeking behavior. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to explore health-seeking behaviors of adolescents with SCD and (2) to determine if there are significant differences in health literacy levels of adolescents with SCD based upon health-seeking behaviors. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study evaluating health-seeking behaviors and health literacy in 110 Black and non-Hispanic adolescents with SCD. Convenience sampling was utilized for recruitment. The inclusion criteria were a diagnosis of one of the four primary genotypes of SCD and age of 10-19 years. Health literacy was evaluated using the Newest Vital Sign (NVS). Frequencies and percentages were calculated for all variables. Independent Samples t-tests were conducted to evaluate differences in health literacy scores based upon differing health-seeking behaviors. Results: The mean age of participants was 14.8 years (SD = 2.2). The mean NVS score was 2.7 (SD = 1.6). The two most common responses to “where do you go FIRST for health information?” were the Internet (29.6%; n = 40) and health care providers (27.4%; n = 37). There was no statistical difference in NVS scores between adolescents using the Internet versus health care providers as their first source of health information (t[75] = − .12; p = .22). Discussion: Knowledge of health-seeking behaviors and health literacy in adolescents with SCD gives insight into the design and evaluation of future interventions to improve health and health literacy in this population.

背景：健康素养可能会影响镰状细胞病 (SCD) 青少年从儿科护理到成人护理的转变。推测SCD青少年健康素养的影响因素之一是求医行为。本研究的目的有两个：（1）探索 SCD 青少年的求医行为；（2）确定 SCD 青少年的健康素养水平是否存在基于求医行为的显着差异。方法：这是一项横断面描述性研究，评估了 110 名患有 SCD 的黑人和非西班牙裔青少年的寻求健康行为和健康素养。方便抽样被用于招聘。纳入标准为 SCD 四种主要基因型之一的诊断，年龄为 10-19 岁。使用最新生命体征 (NVS) 评估健康素养。计算所有变量的频率和百分比。进行独立样本t检验以评估基于不同的寻求健康行为的健康素养分数的差异。结果：参与者的平均年龄为 14.8 岁（SD  = 2.2）。平均 NVS 得分为 2.7 ( SD = 1.6）。对“您首先去哪里获取健康信息？”的两种最常见的回答。是互联网 (29.6%; n  = 40) 和医疗保健提供者 (27.4%; n  = 37)。使用互联网与医疗保健提供者作为其第一健康信息来源的青少年之间的 NVS 分数没有统计学差异（t [75] = − .12；p  = .22）。讨论：了解 SCD 青少年寻求健康的行为和健康素养有助于深入了解未来干预措施的设计和评估，以改善该人群的健康和健康素养。