Self-Efficacy Of Health Literacy In Older Adults

The biggest, most pressing problem in healthcare today that is a direct effect of poor health literacy is hospital readmission for African American patients with cardiovascular disease, more specifically congestive heart failure. Nearly 1 in 4 patients hospitalized with congestive heart failure (CHF) is readmitted within 30 days of discharge . Over 5 million people have CHF with an additional 550,000 diagnosed each year1. In fact, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in America and has been since the 1970’s (REF) with African Americans being

Health promotion brochure should be written at an appropriate grade level for the consumer to understand. According to Helmig (2006) The familiar brochures, tent-cards, checklists, posters, and newsletter, and mainstays of physicians’ offices and waiting rooms serve as important resources for patients, but they often do not speak to patients in a language they can understand ( p 82). The readability of this brochure according to SMOG is at a 10th grade level. Research shows that more than 20% of adults read below the fifth grade level. Examples in the brochure that would be difficult for the consumer to understand is under the heading “About your Diabetes.” This information is confusing and need more clarification to help the consumer understand and interpret the information that is given. According to Safeer & Keenan (2005), health literacy is basic reading that allows a person to function in the health care environment. The authors’ also stated elderly consumers are predominantly affected because of their reading and comprehension abilities are influenced by their vision and hearing status (p. 463).

Health literacy has been demarcated as the measurement of the individual’s capacity to obtain, understand and process simple health information. It is needed to make satisfactory health decisions and determine services needed to treat or prevent illness. Health literacy requires knowledge from many topics, comprising the patient’s own body, appropriate conducts towards healthy results and the difficulties to understand the health system. It is influenced by many conditions such as our communication skills, age, socio-economic status, and cultural background, past experiences, educational level and mental health status (U.S. Department of

Health literacy has been a problem with our patients. The most vulnerable populations are the elderly, people with low-income levels, those with limited education, non-native speakers of English, those with chronic mental and physical health conditions, minority, and immigrant populations. Nurses have a great role in helping our patients succeed in understanding their health conditions. Nurses can be of great help in promoting health literacy. Sykes, Wills, Rowlands and Popple (2013) defined health literacy as the ability of individuals to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information. The three domains of health literacy, according to Bennett and Perkins (2012) as adapted from the (WHO) (1998) are functional health literacy, interactive literacy, and critical health literacy. Functional health literacy is basic reading and writing skills to be able to function effectively in a health context. Interactive health literacy is the used of more advanced cognitive and literacy skills to participate in health care. Critical health literacy is the ability to analyze critically and to use information to participate in action, to overcome structural barriers to health (p.14). The U.S. Department of Education published the findings of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy conducted in 2003. The result showed that 36 % of adults have basic or below-basic skills for dealing with health material, 52 %

A big problem today in health care for many people is health literacy. Health literacy is when a person is able to understand and process medical information they are given. Having low health literacy can affect how a person understands, and uses information about their health and health services (Batterham 2016). Low health literacy rates lead to big issues in communication. Limited literacy impacts health behaviors, decisions, and ultimately outcomes. Many people have low health literacy which leads to bad health outcomes. Research shows that low literacy is linked with the lower likelihood of people being able to manage their own health conditions, and less access to health care services which can lead to poor health outcomes. There are many reasons people have low health literacy, A lack of formal education and poor reading ability aren't the only causes of low health literacy. Low health literacy is associated with a number of things like poor engagement in health services, health knowledge, and overall health status. People with low health literacy may feel ashamed and try to hide it from professionals and family members. Most health care professionals are unaware of the level of health literacy their patient has. (Greenhalgh 2015) There is a need to identify individual health literacy needs and address how to work on solutions to benefit them and whole groups of people. Differences in health literacy

PICOT question: In elderly patient with congestive heart failure, how adequate multidisciplinary education compare with lack of education could reduce hospital readmission rates over a 6-month period? The research questions are: Does multidisciplinary education help elderly patient with CHF to adequately manage the disease at home? Does improve knowledge in the disease could decrease hospital readmissions in CHF patient? The hypothesis states that multidisciplinary approach and proper patient education will decrease readmission rate in elderly patients with CHF. The purpose of the study seeks to articulate the problem of lack of education for older patients with congestive heart failure regarding how to manage

My Disease-Specific Program Planning Guide is titled “A Heart Disease Prevention Program Planning Guide for Older Adults.” I decided to create a guide for a professional audience to find current and evidence-based resources in order to reduce the risk of heart disease among older adults. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. In fact, more than 600,000 Americans die of heart disease each year. Older adults is a population at risk for heart disease because as people age, chronic diseases are more prevalent, and most will be affected by chronic conditions. It is estimated that at least 80% of older Americans have at least one chronic disease,

Research shows that seniors with less education and from lower socioeconomic levels experience more disease, a shorter life expectancy and poorer emotional wellbeing. Additionally, Raina et al. (2000) explains that older men and women health is differentially susceptible to various health determining factors. For example, for older men, education has more effect, income and stress affects older women. The proposition is that health education is necessary to create health awareness and to increase health outcome among the seniors. Rowlands, Protheroe, Winkley, Richardson, Seed & Rudd (2015) study shows that low health literacy is correlated with greater use of medical services, less precautionary care, greater difficulty managing long-term illnesses,

Only 15-40 % of the population in the U.S. are health literate (Kirk et al. 2012) and 14% of the total adult population have below basic/functional literacy. Of the total adult population with basic health literacy skills, 14 % of the population are men and 16% of the population are

This paper explores several articles; studies, programs and campaigns that report on results conducted both online and offline, in relation to health communication, specifically in minority populations and the aging in America. The paper also introduces subset definitions within health communication itself, and how each piece of that communication is affected by several limitations within the aging and minority populations. From what has been seen in recent trends, health literacy and adherence levels are poorest amongst seniors and minority populations. According to Andrulis and Brach, of the nearly 60 million of American adults with limited health literacy, almost 32 million are Non-White and/or Hispanic (2007, p. S122). The CDC (Centers for Disease and Prevention Control), Healthy People 2020, and Health.gov offer several recommendations to tackle this issue that not only affects health statuses because of the miscommunication, but drives up health care costs as well. This paper will break down the various components of health communication, address the issues it has for “special populations” in the United States, offer solutions based off of proven methods to increase awareness, point out limitations of studies and programs and a future study.

Furthermore, in order to educate the older adults, some teaching strategies are supposed to be acquired to enable them cope with their different deficiencies and still gather the necessary information they need to make healthy choices (Nair & Cienkowski, 2010). For health literacy to be efficient in the elderly, the nurses and health educators should always start looking at the history of their patients, short and long term deficiencies that they face, the effectiveness of their coping mechanism, what their needs are related to the cognitive functions, communication inadequacies, the amount of information they can take and how learning should be taught for different patients (Sabatini, et al. 2010). After all the necessary evaluation of the

The problems associated with the health literacy have been identified by the researchers in the last ten years. They came to know the role played by it in the medical as well as the individual self care by the comprehension of information related to health and the outcomes related to it (Carolyn Speros, 2004).

Health literacy is both a consumer and public healthcare issue. As a health care provider, it is not only my responsibility to ensure that you understand your health and what is going on

Health literacy is an essential determinant of health. Health literacy is the degree in which people have the ability to obtain process and understand fundamental health services and information in order to make informed health decisions throughout different phases of life. Patients who are better educated and informed about their options and who understand the evidence behind certain methodologies may have better health outcomes. On the other hand, low health literacy leads to many health problems. In fact, it seems to be the “single biggest cause of poor health outcomes” (Kickbusch 208). Low health literacy inhibits self-advocacy in health care settings. Patients with limited literacy cannot actively participate in health-related decisions

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 302 participants between June and December 2015. The participants’ health literacy, empowerment and current health status was assessed.