Predicting Factors of Health Literacy Among Older Adults with Uncontrolled Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

This study aimed to the level of health literacy and investigating the factors predicting health literacy in the elderly with type 2 diabetes mellitus who cannot control their blood sugar levels. The purposively selected sample was 166 elderly people with type 2 diabetes mellitus who could not control their blood sugar levels from Bang Bo District, Samut Prakan Province. The instruments employed in the research were 1) personal information questionnaires, 2) family information questionnaires, 3) questionnaires on environment, 4) community participation questionnaires, and 5) health literacy questionnaires by the approval of test contents from five experts with a score in the range of .83 - .88 and reliability test of the questionnaire on 6 components of the health literacy questionnaires; the knowledge and understanding at KR 20 equal to .82 and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of the access skill, community skill, self-management skill, decision skill and media literacy skill questionnaires equal .82, .82, .84, .86, and .88, respectively. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics and Stepwise multiple regression analysis. The findings revealed that the sample had basic health literacy (M=48.27, SD=8.88). The number of times they participated in community activities and their income could predict health literacy 44.2% (R²=.442). This study suggested that nurses or health team personnel should systematically inform patients about diabetes and have patients interact more with each other every time they attend a community event.