More than Words: Promoting Health Literacy in Older Adults

Abstract

Inadequate health literacy disproportionately affects older adults in the United States. The complexities associated with managing chronic disease and the cognitive and sensory changes associated with aging compound the challenges of teaching this highly vulnerable group. In order to enhance comprehension and bring about positive health behavior changes, the nurse must use more than words when teaching an older adult. Multiple teaching strategies that are tailored to accommodate the cognitive, physical, and psychological changes associated with aging, such as clear communication that is purposeful and individualized and a patient-centered approach that demonstrates acceptance and respect, are actions that the nurse must take to promote health literacy in the older adult. This article describes the effect of age-related changes on health literacy, addresses the challenges inherent in communicating with and teaching older adults, and suggests age-appropriate teaching strategies that the nurse can implement to improve the health literacy of an aging patient. Suggestions for evaluating comprehension are also provided.

Familiarization may minimize age-related declines in rule-based category learning.

“…In line with current pretraining findings, prior research has shown that older adults have a decreased capacity to process multiple pieces of information (Stevens, 2003) and benefit from learning manageable chunks of information. Additionally, research involving medical adherence in older adults, suggests that patient education strategies should be tailored to account for age-related changes in cognitive functioning (Speros, 2009;Zhang, Swartzman, Petrella, Gill, & Minda, 2017). For example, key points should be reinforced, so that the patient will become familiarized with the information and complex information should be broken down into simpler points, as This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.…”

Prevalence of Limited Health Literacy in the Philippines: First National Survey

“…Vision changes and hearing loss may impede information processing, while decreased motor function may inhibit adoption of necessary health behaviors. The elderly may also experience trouble in higher-order thinking skills, such as comprehension, comparison and contrast, and reasoning ( Speros, 2009 ). In addition, age-cohort differences in health education during formal schooling contribute to disparities between age groups ( Ashida et al, 2011 ; Xie et al, 2019 ).…”

Digital storytelling to facilitate consumer engagement in healthcare research

“…In research, the same information needs to be provided to allow participants who are consumer representatives to understand the research questions being asked 4 . This is particularly important when working with populations that may have limitations in their capacity to understand the complex information being conveyed, such as older adults 5 . The onus, then, lies with the researchers to use methods that communicate the context, background information, and research questions clearly and accurately.…”

“…being conveyed, such as older adults. 5 The onus, then, lies with the researchers to use methods that communicate the context, background information, and research questions clearly and accurately.…”