Effects of Health Literacy and Self-Perceived Health Status on Quality of Life of Elderly in Three Southern Border Provinces of Thailand
Keywords:
Elderly, Health Literacy, Perceived Health Status, Quality of LifeAbstract
Health literacy and its effects on the quality of life remain a fundamental component for public health promotion. The differences in health literacy levels are widely hypothesized to contribute to health disparities. An elderly person with limited health literacy has less health knowledge, worse self-management skills, and lower use of preventive services. This study evaluated the association between health literacy, perceived health status, and the quality of life in elderly. The data was obtained from 433 elderly aged over 60 years in the three Southern Border Provinces of Thailand. They were selected using the voluntary convention sampling from 17 sub-district administrative organizations that implemented the policy regarding promoting healthy aging of Thai elderly. The tool used was a questionnaire including 1) demographic data, 2) the Health Literacy Scale, 3) WHOQOL-BREF-THAI questionnaire, and 4) self-reported health status. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistic and linear regression analysis.
The results revealed that 416 elderly (96.01%) reported their health literacy at a moderate to an adequate level. Health literacy and perceived health status significantly predicted quality of life (p<.01); the coefficient of multiple correlation was. 649 and predictive coefficient was 49.8%. And the regression coefficient standardized (b, β) was .007, .590, and .096, .145 respectively. In addition, occupation and educational levels also predicted better health literacy, which accounted for 13.40% of the variance in health literacy.
The findings of this study suggest that it is necessary to focus more attention on improving people’s health literacy, especially elderly with inadequate health literacy and low self-reported quality of life.
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