فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Background: Health literacy is a measure of individual’s ability to read, comprehend, and acton medical instructions. Older adults are one of the most important at risk groups affectedby the impact of inadequate health literacy. Health promoting behaviors in older adults havepotential impact on their health and quality of life and reduce the costs incurred to health care.Given the paucity of information health literacy and health promoting behavior, the purposeof this study was to examine health literacy level in older adults and the relationship betweenhealth literacy and health promoting behaviors. Materials and Method: A cross‑sectional surveyof 354 older adults was conducted in Isfahan. The method of sampling was clustering. Healthliteracy was measured using the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA). Datawere collected via home interviewing. Health promoting behaviors were measured based onself‑reported smoking status, exercise, and consumption of fruit and vegetables. The collecteddata were analyzed using descriptive statistics and one‑way ANOVA and χ2 tests under SPSS18 software. Results: The sample group averaged 67 ± 6.97 years in age. Approximately 79.6%of adults were found to have inadequate health literacy. They tended to be older, have feweryears of schooling, lower household income, and being female Individuals with inadequatehealth literacy were more likely to report limitations in activity and lower consumption of fruitand vegetables (P < 0.001). No significant association was found between health literacyand smoking status. Conclusion: Considering high prevalence of inadequate health literacyamong older adults, and its inverse relationship with some health promoting behaviors. Simpleeducational materials and effective interventions for low health literacy people can improvehealth promotion in society and mitigate the adverse health effects of low health literacy.