Page 139 - Petelin, Ana, ur. 2021. Zdravje starostnikov / Health of the Elderly. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo / Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press
P. 139
correlation between some social determinants and health psihologija / sociala in zdravje starejših odraslih | psychology / social and health of the elderly
literacy of the elderly in Slovenia
Sanja Vrbovšek1, Mitja Vrdelja1, Vito Klopčič1, Tamara Štemberger Kolnik2,3
1 National Institute of Public Health, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2 Community health center Ilirska Bistrica; Ilirska Bistrica, Slovenia
3 Ministry of health, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Introduction. Health literacy is an important determinant of health. It encom-
passes the knowledge, motivation, and competencies of individuals to access,
understand, appraise, and apply health information to day-to-day decisions re-
lated to health promotion, disease prevention, and health care. Low levels of
health literacy are associated with poor health knowledge, difficulty managing
one’s own illness, inadequate use of health services, poorer health and survival,
as well as increased health care costs. In the elderly, the prevalence of low level
of health literacy is higher. In addition to the decline in cognitive abilities in the
elderly associated with their health literacy level, researches show a significant
association between health literacy level and social determinants, with financial
deprivation being the strongest predictor of limited health literacy in the elder-
ly. In this paper, we focus on the analysis of health literacy in the elderly in Slo-
venia in connection with some social determinants.
Methods. In 2020, the first National Health Literacy Survey was conducted in
Slovenia on a representative sample of the adult population. Data were ob-
tained from a questionnaire developed in the European Network on Measur-
ing Population and Organizational Health Literacy. Health literacy was meas-
ured on the basis of a 47-item health literacy questionnaire. The sample of the
elderly (aged 65 and over) comprises 826 units.
Results. Self-assessment of economic abilities of the elderly is statistically signif-
icantly correlated with three variables, namely Health literacy in health care (r
= 0.327 , p<0,001), Health literacy in disease prevention (r = 0.302, p<0,001)
and Health literacy in health promotion (r = 0.334 **, p<0,001). Higher levels
of health literacy are found in those older people who can more easily afford
to buy medicines or pay more for a medical examination. The analysis of vari-
ance also confirmed a statistically significant relationship between the number
of people available to the elderly in case they need help and Health literacy in
the field of health care knowledge and (F = 9,446, p<0,001), Health literacy in
the field of disease prevention (F = 15.207, p<0,001) and Health literacy in the
field of health promotion (F = 12.519, p<0,001).
Discussion and conclusions. Social determinants are related to the level of health
literacy of the elderly in Slovenia and thus also to their health-related decisions.
Therefore, in the development and implementation of interventions to em-
power the elderly to care for their health and for better quality of their life, it
is important to take into account their level of health literacy and various social
determinants that significantly affect it, so we can make an important contribu-
tion to reducing inequalities in health in elderly.
Keywords: health literacy, elderly, social determinants
137
literacy of the elderly in Slovenia
Sanja Vrbovšek1, Mitja Vrdelja1, Vito Klopčič1, Tamara Štemberger Kolnik2,3
1 National Institute of Public Health, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2 Community health center Ilirska Bistrica; Ilirska Bistrica, Slovenia
3 Ministry of health, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Introduction. Health literacy is an important determinant of health. It encom-
passes the knowledge, motivation, and competencies of individuals to access,
understand, appraise, and apply health information to day-to-day decisions re-
lated to health promotion, disease prevention, and health care. Low levels of
health literacy are associated with poor health knowledge, difficulty managing
one’s own illness, inadequate use of health services, poorer health and survival,
as well as increased health care costs. In the elderly, the prevalence of low level
of health literacy is higher. In addition to the decline in cognitive abilities in the
elderly associated with their health literacy level, researches show a significant
association between health literacy level and social determinants, with financial
deprivation being the strongest predictor of limited health literacy in the elder-
ly. In this paper, we focus on the analysis of health literacy in the elderly in Slo-
venia in connection with some social determinants.
Methods. In 2020, the first National Health Literacy Survey was conducted in
Slovenia on a representative sample of the adult population. Data were ob-
tained from a questionnaire developed in the European Network on Measur-
ing Population and Organizational Health Literacy. Health literacy was meas-
ured on the basis of a 47-item health literacy questionnaire. The sample of the
elderly (aged 65 and over) comprises 826 units.
Results. Self-assessment of economic abilities of the elderly is statistically signif-
icantly correlated with three variables, namely Health literacy in health care (r
= 0.327 , p<0,001), Health literacy in disease prevention (r = 0.302, p<0,001)
and Health literacy in health promotion (r = 0.334 **, p<0,001). Higher levels
of health literacy are found in those older people who can more easily afford
to buy medicines or pay more for a medical examination. The analysis of vari-
ance also confirmed a statistically significant relationship between the number
of people available to the elderly in case they need help and Health literacy in
the field of health care knowledge and (F = 9,446, p<0,001), Health literacy in
the field of disease prevention (F = 15.207, p<0,001) and Health literacy in the
field of health promotion (F = 12.519, p<0,001).
Discussion and conclusions. Social determinants are related to the level of health
literacy of the elderly in Slovenia and thus also to their health-related decisions.
Therefore, in the development and implementation of interventions to em-
power the elderly to care for their health and for better quality of their life, it
is important to take into account their level of health literacy and various social
determinants that significantly affect it, so we can make an important contribu-
tion to reducing inequalities in health in elderly.
Keywords: health literacy, elderly, social determinants
137
