scholarly journals Health Literacy in the Everyday Lives of Older Adults in Greece, Hungary, and the Netherlands

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 2411
Author(s):  
Liesbeth de Wit ◽  
Pania Karnaki ◽  
Archontoula Dalma ◽  
Peter Csizmadia ◽  
Charlotte Salter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Context Specific

Health literacy (HL) encompasses someone’s knowledge and abilities to access and use health information in order to make appropriate health decisions in life. HL is particularly valuable in later life when health challenges grow. An individual’s HL is typically considered a fixed and skills-based characteristic, without taking into account how these are situated in the context of everyday life. Also, lay perspectives on health literacy are relatively scarce. Therefore, the aim of this article is to explore the context-specific perspectives of older adults and health professionals on HL in later life in Greece, Hungary, and the Netherlands. We adopted a qualitative methodology and conducted 12 focus groups: seven with 50 older adults and five with 30 health professionals to gain insight into individual perspectives on HL as situated in the health care and everyday life contexts. An informed grounded theory approach was used in analyzing the data. The results are structured in three themes: (1) interactions with health professionals, (2) perceived quality of the health care system, and (3) managing health in the context of everyday life. An overarching finding is that, for older adults, HL reflects the demands placed on them when managing their health. In the experience of older adults, these demands are placed upon them by healthcare professionals, the healthcare system, as well as their everyday lives. Our findings underscore the importance of Critical Health Literacy (CHL) as that concept foregrounds that HL is context specific. Also, CHL has been argued to be a community characteristic, which is why we call for community-based approaches to improve HL.

Later Life Care Planning and Concerns of Transgender Older Adults in Canada

2019 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celeste Pang ◽  
Gloria Gutman ◽  
Brian de Vries
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Care ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Care Planning ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Transgender People ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Transgender Persons

While the particular health-care concerns of transgender people have been documented and transgender aging is an emerging area of scholarship, little is known about planning for later and end-of-life care among transgender older adults. As part of a larger project, focus groups and interviews were conducted with 24 transgender older adults (average age 70 years) living in five cities in Canada exploring their concerns and explicit plans for later life care. Three primary themes emerged: (a) “dealing with the day-to-day” reflecting economic precarity and transitioning in later life, (b) fractures and support within family and community, and (c) “there’s a huge gap between principle and practice” reflecting mixed experiences and perceptions of health-care services. These themes suggest that effective promotion of care planning among older transgender persons requires an appreciation of the daily exigencies of their lives and the extent and nature of social support available to them.

Health literacy among Danish university students enrolled in health-related study programmes

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 831-838 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lea Elsborg ◽  
Fie Krossdal ◽  
Lars Kayser
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Male Students ◽  
Public Health Programme ◽  
Health Literacy Level ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Educational Path

Aims: It is important to address people’s health literacy when providing health care. Health professionals should be aware of, and have insight into, people’s health literacy when they provide health services. Health professionals need to be health literate themselves. We examined the level of health literacy in students in Denmark attending one of four full university programmes related to health and investigated how their health literacy was associated with their sociodemographic background. Methods: The health literacy level of the students was measured using the multi-dimensional Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) supplemented with sociodemographic questions. The questionnaire was administrated through the students’ Facebook groups. The students were enrolled in courses on health informatics, medicine, molecular biomedicine or public health. Out of a total of 7663 students, 630 responded to the questionnaire. Results: No sex difference was found although female students scored higher than male students in domain 4 (social support for health). Students attending the public health programme tended to score higher and those attending molecular biomedicine tended to score lower in the HLQ. There was a positive correlation between HLQ scores and the educational level of the students’ parents. If one of their parents was employed in the health care sector, the HLQ score tended to be higher in domains 1 and 4. Students who had been hospitalized also tended to score higher in domains 1, 5 and 6. Conclusions: Students’ health literacy relates to their personal background and educational path. This may be of importance when planning curricula and educational activities, including cross-disciplinary courses.

scholarly journals Associations Between Older Adults' Spoken Interactive Health Literacy and Selected Health Care and Health Communication Outcomes

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (sup3) ◽  
pp. 191-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald L. Rubin ◽  
John Parmer ◽  
Vicki Freimuth ◽  
Terry Kaley ◽  
Mumbi Okundaye
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Interactive Health

scholarly journals Nutritional Care for older adults in Primary Health Care, from the perspective of health professionals

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Lou de Melo ◽  
Maria Angélica Tavares de Medeiros
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Nutritional Care ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Theoretical Saturation

Abstract Objective: to characterize and analyze Nutritional Care (NC) for older adults in Primary Health Care (PHC), identifying how food and nutrition actions (F&N) were performed and the conceptions that guided them. Methods: a cross-sectional, quantitative and qualitative study was performed in PHC in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil, in two phases: i) a census study was carried out of health units, N=28 (100%), with managers who answered a structured interview to assess NC; followed by descriptive analysis. ii) a deeper investigation of this diagnosis was performed, using semi-structured interviews with key informants (interviewees) of care for older adults; being a nutritionist was not a criteria, as there were only three such professionals throughout the entire PHC, and one of the health regions studied was not served by a nutrition professional. The concept of theoretical saturation was used for the sampling plan; content analysis was carried out and the inferences were supported by references of integrality and aging. Results: NC for older adults was highlighted by individual care, predominant in all the services studied (28) (100%); nutritionists participated in this activity in just nine units (32.1%). Theoretical saturation was achieved with nine interviews. According to the discourse analysis, F&N actions were generic, focused on the treatment of diseases, influenced by negative aspects attributed to aging, there was no planning based on the needs of the territory, and health professionals identified themselves as information transmitters, leaving the responsibility of acting on such information to the older adults themselves. Conclusion: F&N actions were guided by the biomedical paradigm, fragmented, restricted to disease management, imputing the responsibility for health to the individual themselves. Thus, NC distanced itself from the promotion of healthy aging, weakening its strategic role in the quest for integrated care.

scholarly journals Communicating with migrants: children’s health literacy, digital technology, health promotion tools

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Reis ◽  
L Saboga-Nunes ◽  
A Spínola ◽  
I Santos ◽  
C Santiago
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Care Setting ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Health Care Setting ◽  
Primary Health Care Setting ◽  
Primary Health

Abstract Background Being a migrant can enact road blocks in the process of integration, if language barriers persist in the communication between health professionals and migrants. Moreover, health literacy levels (HL) can differ, based on different cultural contexts or conceptions of health and illness. This research aims at exploring migrants (digital) HL and the mediating role of migrant’s children in primary health care setting. Health professionals’ resort to migrants’ children as interpreters and mediators has been highlighted with the younger generations’ digital literacy, as critical tools to overcome such barriers. Assessing and promoting migrant’s HL is a public health mandate in the promotion of individual and family health to establish a common ground base for communication. Methods A qualitative and ethnographic study based on narratives, participant observation, focus group and ethno biographic interviews with nurses, migrants, medical doctors and intercultural mediators, involved 52 participants in a primary health care setting in Santarém district, Portugal. Partnership with the Observatory for Migration, the High Commission for Migration (ACM) and with migrant associations, enabled the completion by migrants of an online questionnaire focusing on digital HL. Results Migrants’ children were identified as facilitators in the clinical setting at three levels: the communication, HL promotion and adherence to continuity of care. Conclusions Improve migrant’s HL and health decisions is feasible when considering several strategies to overcome cultural barriers. Migrants’ children are potential mediators in the process of communication between health professionals and adults. Awareness of their potential allows adjustments in the primary health care sector. The need to further investigate migrants’ HL and digital HL (e.g. telephone translation services, Internet-based tools for scheduling health appointments) are some tasks that need further research.

Sexuality in older age

2020 ◽  
pp. 785-802
Author(s):  
Sharron Hinchliff ◽  
Bianca Fileborn
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Older Patients ◽  
Sexual Communication ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Sexual Consent ◽  
Sexual Risk Taking ◽  
Partner Communication ◽  
Global Trend ◽  
Key Issues

This chapter examines the research evidence to present key issues in the sexuality and ageing field. The chapter utilizes a sexual rights framework to contextualize sexuality and ageing for psychiatry and psychiatric practice. It discusses sexual activity in middle and later life and the sexual difficulties that older adults can experience. It explores sexual risk-taking in older cohorts and the current global trend of increased diagnoses of STIs in older adults. It also discusses the highly neglected areas of sexual violence, sexual consent, and partner communication in older adults. The chapter ends with a focus on the barriers to sexual communication between health professionals and older patients, and provides guidance and tips—specifically the ‘Three Ps’ approach: Privacy, Permission, and Practice—for clinicians to use to improve sexual communication with patients.

Social Support, Health Literacy, and Health Care Utilization Among Older Adults

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong-Bing Liu ◽  
Ping Hou ◽  
Hui-Ping Xue ◽  
Xin-E Mao ◽  
Yong-Nan Li
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Nursing Homes ◽  
Health Care Utilization ◽  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Care Utilization ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between social support, health literacy, and health care utilization in older Chinese adults. A cross-sectional survey design was employed. Data were collected from 32 nursing homes from Urumqi in Xinjiang of China. A total of 1486 respondents completed a pack of questionnaires. The average health literacy level of older adults in nursing homes was relatively low, only 73.68 ± 29.42 points; the average social support level was also relatively low, only 31.42 ± 7.12 points (lower than domestic norm of Chinese residents, P < .001). Both values were below the midpoint for the overall population, indicating a sample with below-average levels of healthy literacy and social support. Low social support levels are associated with poor health literacy and greater likelihood of hospital admission ( P < .05). Social support was significantly associated with health literacy. Improving the quantity and quality of social support may be an effective means to obtain better health literacy and lower hospital admissions.

scholarly journals Schaalman Senior Voices: Transitioning From “What’s the Matter?” to “What Matters?”

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 582-582
Author(s):  
Grisel Rodriguez-Morales ◽  
Erin Emery-Tiburcio ◽  
Robyn Golden ◽  
Marc Fenton ◽  
Jasmine Chandy
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health System ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Health Care Students ◽  
Health Care Professions ◽  
Health Events ◽  
Unique Method ◽  
Learning To Listen ◽  
What Matters

Abstract The 4Ms of an Age-Friendly Health System start with What Matters to the older adult. A unique method for asking that question is through film. Schaalman Senior Voices (SSV) films older adults talking about What Matters to them, and uses the films to stimulate discussion about later life with older adults in the community (n=264), with health care professions students learning to listen to older adults (n=1250), and health system executives considering implementation of the Age-Friendly Health Systems (AFHS) initiative (n=100). SSV has completed longer professional films interviewing 12 older adults. Using a mobile platform, SSV has filmed 50 older adults in the community and at health events. Outcomes of film discussions will be presented, including inspiration for older adults having conversations with family and physicians about What Matters, health care students effectively using skills in asking What Matters to enhance the care they provide, and executives considering AFHS implementation.

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