Health Literacy in Elderly: The Role of Educational Interventions

This essay explores the crucial role of health literacy among elderly individuals, particularly concerning chronic disease management. It emphasizes how targeted educational interventions, especially through online resources and self-management programs, can significantly improve their understanding of medications, preventive measures, and overall health practices. The essay highlights the importance of providing information in simple, easily understandable formats, such as sequential diagrams and guidelines, to cater to the specific needs of the elderly population. By enhancing health literacy, elderly individuals can better self-manage their health conditions, adopt healthier lifestyles, and reduce mortality rates, ultimately leading to a more self-sufficient and healthier life. Desklib offers a wealth of resources, including similar essays and solved assignments, to further assist students in their studies.

Nursing assignment

Overview
Health literacy is considered to be as essential for all but it should essentially be developed
among elderly people as elderly people are more prone to certain specific chronic diseases
and unbearable health conditions (Australian Commission on Safety & Quality in Healthcare,
2018). Sufficient knowledge about the diseases suffered by them provides them with the idea
related to the measures to be used by them in order to improve their health outcomes.
The educational interventions can improve health literacy among the elderly people as it
improves their self-efficiency by providing them with the knowledge regarding medications
and preventive measures on daily basis. As majority of elderly people suffer from various
chronic diseases such as Diabetes, Arthritis, blood pressure, respiratory and heart diseases, it
is essential to take medicines on time and not to miss a single dose. The use of internet is a
most common method to develop health literacy among elderly people as majority of people
uses various internet sources and social sites to get in touch with their friends and relatives.
Through internet sources, the information related to self-management of such chronic
diseases can be provided to the people. Such self-management programs can help in
providing quick medical treatment in case of chronic diseases as well as to improve patient
outcomes (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2015). The
educational programs should be designed specifically for the elderly people online so that
they need not to go anywhere to gain knowledge about what measures to be taken by them
for the health related issues being faced by them.
Through internet and multimedia sources, elderly people can be provided with the sufficient
information regarding how to take medications, exercise and daily routines and diets to be
followed. However, to achieve this purpose, the material information to be provided on
various sources should be in simple and easy form so that it could be understood even to a

lame person (safetyandquality.gov.au, 2014). The language should be such to be easily
understandable by the elderly people. The educational programs should be designed in a
sequential or diagrammatic manner so that elderly people can easily understand the processes
or procedures to be followed. In addition to it, certain guidelines or booklet can also be
provided to the elderly people from whom they can take guidance from. Such educational
programs online and information on internet sources will keep the elderly people busy in
developing their knowledge regarding the disease or diseases they experience and they will
better understand their existing health conditions or when they need healthcare (Misra, et al.,
2010).
The elderly people can get extensively benefitted through such educational interventions and
can better self-manage their health conditions and become able to take care of their health so
that they could be prevented from various common chronic diseases prevalent among people
of such age group. They can develop good health practices, exercise habits and healthy diet
and develop healthy daily routines so as to get rid of various chronic diseases which will
reduce the mortality rate among elderly people and make them self-sufficient so that they can
manage their health and life on their own.
References
Australian Commission on Safety & Quality in Healthcare, 2018. Health Literacy. [Online]
Available at: https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/our-work/patient-and-consumer-centred-
care/health-literacy/
[Accessed 4 October 2018].
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2015. HEALTH LITERACY: A
summary for Executives & Managers, s.l.: s.n.

Misra, R., Mark, J. H., Khan, S. & Kukafka, R., 2010. Using Design Principles to Foster
Understanding of Complex Health Concepts in Consumer Informatics Tools. AMIA Annual
Symposium Proceedings, pp. 492-496.
safetyandquality.gov.au, 2014. NATIONAL STATEMENT ON HEALTH LITERACY, s.l.: s.n.