Enhancing Health Literacy: Design Principles and Benefits for Elderly

This presentation provides an overview of health literacy, focusing on its importance for elderly individuals and the design principles that can enhance their understanding of healthcare. It highlights the prevalence of low health literacy levels in Australia and emphasizes the role of health literacy in enabling elderly people to manage their health effectively, seek timely medical help, and develop self-management skills. The presentation also discusses educational interventions, such as providing knowledge about medications, preventive measures, and self-management programs for chronic diseases, to improve health literacy. Key principles include using simple language, sequential information presentation, and providing guidelines to help elderly individuals understand their health conditions and make informed healthcare decisions. Ultimately, these interventions aim to promote good health practices, exercise habits, healthy diets, and healthy daily routines among the elderly, leading to better self-management of their health conditions.

Health Literacy

 Health literacy refers to
the understanding among
people regarding
healthcare and its
applicability to their lives.
 Low levels of health
literacy contribute to
poorer health outcomes
and 60% people of
Australia have low level
of health literacy while
40% have adequate level.
Introduction

 Health literacy among elderly people make
them prepare to deal with their health
issues and make them able to seek medical
help at the right time.
 Health literacy develops self-management
skills among elderly people and they can
utilize healthcare services in situation of
emergency and as a method of preventive
healthcare.
Contd..

 The educational interventions can improve
health literacy among the elderly people
 It improves their self-efficiency by providing
them with the knowledge regarding medications
and preventive measures on daily basis.
 The use of internet is a most common method to
develop health literacy among elderly people.
 The information related to self-management of
such chronic diseases can be provided to the
people.
Health literacy Design
Principles

 Self-management programs help in providing quick
medical treatment & improve patient outcomes.
 Elderly people can be provided with the sufficient
information regarding how to take medications,
exercise and daily routines and diets to be followed.
 Information should be in simple and easy form.
 The language should be easily understandable by the
elderly people.
 should be designed in a sequential or diagrammatic
manner to be easily understood & followed.
Contd..

 Guidelines or booklet should be provided to the
elderly people to take guidance from.
 Develop their knowledge about their existing
health conditions or when they need
healthcare.
 Elderly people can get extensively benefitted
through such educational interventions and can
better self-manage their health conditions.
 Can develop good health practices, exercise
habits, healthy diet and develop healthy daily
routines.
Contd..