Health Literacy and Health Behaviors among Older Adults with Cardio-cerebrovascular Disease Residing in Rural Areas

Myung Suk Lee

doi:10.7475/kjan.2017.29.3.256

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Lee: Health Literacy and Health Behaviors among Older Adults with Cardio-cerebrovascular Disease Residing in Rural Areas

Original Article

Korean Journal of Adult Nursing 2017; 29(3): 256-265.

Published online: 30 June 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7475/kjan.2017.29.3.256

Health Literacy and Health Behaviors among Older Adults with Cardio-cerebrovascular Disease Residing in Rural Areas

Myung Suk Lee, Ph.D., RN

Department of Nursing, Mokpo Catholic University, Mokpo, Korea.

Corresponding author: Lee, Myung Suk. Department of Nursing, Mokpo Catholic University, 697 Youngsan-ro, Mokpo 58607, Korea. Tel: +82-61-280-5122, Fax: +82-61-280-5109, mslee@mcu.ac.kr

Received 29 March 2017 Revised 15 March 2017 Accepted 21 June 2017

(open-access):

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to identify levels of health literacy and reported health behaviors among older adults with cardio-cerebrovascular disease residing in rural areas.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a convenience sample of 134 older people (mean age=75.5 years, 71.6% Female) registered at seven health centers. The structured questionnaires were used to measure levels of health literacy and health behaviors.

Results

The average functional health literacy score was 6.08±3.04, and the health behavior score was 62.92±6.45. Respectively health behavior was positively associated with health literacy. Education, economic status, number of family members, number of social activities and health literacy were contribution factors explaining 40.64% of the variance in health behavior. Health literacy specifically explained 12.5% of health behavior.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that strategies for improving health behaviors and reducing health inequalities may benefit from adopting a stronger focus on health literacy within prevention, patient education, and other public health interventions. Further longitudinal studies are needed to help confirm that improving health literacy in the elderly may be effective in changing health behaviors.

Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases, Cerebrovascular disorders, Health literacy, Health behavior

Figures and Tables

Table 1

Health Literacy and Health Behaviors by Participants' General Characteristics (N=134)

†Scheffé test.

Table 2

Descriptive Statistics of Health Literacy and Health Behaviors (N=134)

Table 3

Predicting Factors on Health Behaviors of Older Adults (N=134)

Notes

This research was supported by Mokpo Catholic University Research Fund, 2016 (2016-1).

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