Relationship between self-care behaviors and health literacy among elderly women in Iran, 2015

Abstract

Background and aimSelf-care is a basic concept in health promotion, regarding the importance of health literacy as a key factor in self-care. This study aimed to identify the relationship between self-care behaviors and health literacy among elderly women in Iran.MethodsThis descriptive and analytic study was performed between October and December 2015. A total of 360 participants were selected from elderly women referred to health centers. Data was collected by test of functional health literacy in adults (S-TOFHLA) and a checklist for assessment of self-care behaviors, and health information seeking. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 22) with One-Way Analysis of Variance, and the Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test and regression test.ResultsThe mean score of functional health literacy was 41.30±6.29. Of the participants, 73.6% had inadequate health literacy, 20.8% borderline health literacy, and 5.6% enough health literacy. The mean score of health information seeking was 1.791. Also, 31.9% of elderly women had poor self-care behaviors, 56.9% moderate, and 11.1% high. A significant difference was observed in mean score of health literacy between different levels of self-care (F=30.087, p<0.001). Based on regression analysis, health literacy and health information seeking predicted 19.9% of the variance of self-care behaviors.ConclusionThis study highlights the necessity of promoting health literacy and attention to its influencing factors to improve self-care ability of elderly women. In conclusion, Planning interventions to improve health literacy is essential for health promotion among elderly women.

A healthy lifestyle education programme for health literacy and health‐promoting behaviours: A pre‐implementation and post‐implementation study

“…Health literacy is an essential issue to consider in the programmes planned for decreasing the inequalities and increasing the health selfresponsibility in disadvantaged groups for health promotion (Mahamed, Parhizkar, & Shirazi, 2012;Mahdizadeh & Solhi, 2018;Mas et al, 2015). Women are a disadvantaged group, who yet play a key role in protecting and promoting the health of both their society and their family (Cho, Han, & Park, 2018;Komenaka et al, 2015;Messadi et al, 2018;Wang, Lin, Yang, Tsai, & Huang, 2012).…”

“…The WHO (2012) emphasizes the importance of increasing health literacy levels in its health promotion programmes based on empowering individuals and increasing community participation. In the literature, it is reported that the health literacy level of women is related to developing healthy life style habits and positive health behaviours (Cho et al, 2018;Mahamed et al, 2012;Mahdizadeh & Solhi, 2018;Plummer & Chalmers, 2017). It is accepted that "adequate" health literacy for women is a significant indicator of the health-promoting behaviours such as healthy eating, normal body mass index, quitting smoking and alcohol drinking, regular physical activity, and regular medical screening (Knobf, Erdos, & Jeon, 2018;Komenaka et al, 2015;Plummer & Chalmers, 2017;Wang et al, 2012).…”

“…Low health literacy also affects individuals' usage of preventive services, their compliance with medical treatment, and their health autonomy (Lee, Rhee, Kim, & Ahluwalia, ; Sentell, Zhang, Davis, Baker, & Braun, ). Low health literacy can be an indicator of social disadvantage that increases the likelihood that an individual may be exposed to unhealthy life conditions and can restrict the opportunity of people to adhere to health behaviours (Hepburn, ; Mahdizadeh & Solhi, ; Mas et al, ; Muscat et al, ).…”

“…Low health literacy can be an indicator of social disadvantage that increases the likelihood that an individual may be exposed to unhealthy life conditions and can restrict the opportunity of people to adhere to health behaviours (Hepburn, 2018;Mahdizadeh & Solhi, 2018;Mas et al, 2015;Muscat et al, 2016).…”

Identifikacija priporočil, razvoj in testiranje uporabe piktogramov za izboljšanje komunikacije starejših v socialnovarstvenih zavodih

“…Medicinske sestre pri svojem delu s starejšimi prepoznavajo problem pismenosti, kar vpliva na upoštevanje terapevtskih priporočil in samostojno vodenje bolezni (Matthews, et al, 2012). Ljudje z nizko zdravstveno pismenostjo imajo bolj verjetno težave pri učenju in usvajanju novih informacij iz navodil, zdravniških receptov in ostalih pripomočkov (Mahdizadeh & Solhi, 2018); določene informacije ali zdravstvene odločitve lahko prezrejo ali pa jih ne upoštevajo v kontekstu vsakdanjega življenja (Adams, 2009). Stopnja zdravstvene pismenosti je povezana z zdravstvenim stanjem starejših, živečih doma in v SVZ (Liu, et al, 2018).…”