title: Low health literacy and older adults: meanings, problems, and recommendations for social work.
abstract: Many older adults struggle to manage their health care problems. Low health literacy exacerbates such struggles and contributes to a variety of adverse health behaviors and outcomes. Addressing how health literacy impinges on the lives of older adults is a neglected area of social work practice and knowledge. This article explores seven areas: defining health literacy, the problem and prevalence of low health literacy among older adults, health inequalities and health literacy, a brief literature review, neglected issues in the literature, suggestions for macro and micro social work interventions to improve health literacy for older adult populations, and conclusion.
authors.affiliation: a Countryside , Illinois , USA.
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Findley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012947:Social Work / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: communication with health care providers; functional health literacy; geriatric social work; health education; health inequalities; literacy; social work interventions; well-being of older adults