Survey and Intervention of Health Literacy among Older Adults

Background: Health literacy includes individual cognitive and social skills which determinate motives and abilities to knowledge gain, precept and practice to promote health status. While health literacy improves, individual will have better health conditions, and thus decreases overall healthcare expenditure. In the era of high prevalence of chronic diseases as well as increasing healthcare utilization, to identify effectiveness of chronic disease treatment and health expenditure among elderly, which will help healthcare resource allocate and environment development. Objectives: The purposes of this study in the first year are (1) evaluating health literacy among older adults, and (2) identifying factors associated with health literacy and the effect on medical utilizations. In next two years, the main purposes are (3) exploring the needs and problems in the process of health information communication and develop appropriate transmission model of health information for cases, and (4) assessing improvement of health literacy after transmission model intervention. Methods: In the first year, we will use cross-sectional study design and collect data by questionnaire and face-to-face interview in northern Taiwan. The next two years, we will conduct an interventional experiment by case-control study design in a regional hospital in Taipei City. We will recruit low health literacy cases and randomly assign them to the case group or control group. We will explore the needs and problems in the process of health information communication and develop appropriate transmission model of health information as the main experimental intervention. Anticipated Research Results: Identifying the main factors associated with health literacy, and develop appropriate transmission model to increase the accessibility of health information and improve health literacy among older adults in Taiwan.