Search

Issue Addressed: With an ageing population and growing complexity and fragmentation of health care systems, health literacy is increasingly important in managing health. This study investigated health literacy strengths and challenges reported by older Australians (people aged 65 or over) and identified how socio‐demographic and health factors related to their health literacy profiles. Methods: The sample comprised 1578 individuals responding to the Australian Government's 2018 Health Literacy Survey, conducted between January and August. Regression modelling was used to estimate the association between each of nine domains of the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) and individual socio‐demographic and health characteristics. The model allowed for correlation between HLQ scores that was linked to unobserved characteristics of individuals. Results: Across the health literacy domains, few individuals received mean scores in the lowest score range. Key individual characteristics associated with higher health literacy were increasing age, English proficiency, higher education levels, better self‐assessed health and having certain chronic conditions (cancer, hypertension and arthritis). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that, among those aged 65 or over, being older or living with chronic illnesses were associated with greater confidence in engaging with providers, accessing information and navigating health services compared to individuals aged 65–69 and those older individuals without chronic illness. Lower health literacy was associated with psychological distress and low English proficiency. So What?: Interventions to improve individual health literacy and organisation health literacy responsiveness to minimise complexity of the Australian health system are required. This may enhance uptake and use of health information and services for the underserviced members of the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issue addressed More than 87% of Australians own a mobile phone with Internet access and 82% of phone owners use their smartphones to search for health information, indicating that mobile phones may be a powerful tool for building health literacy. Yet, online health information has been found to be above the reading ability of the general population. As reading on a smaller screen may further complicate the readability of information, this study aimed to examine how health information is displayed on mobile phones and its implications for readability. Methods Using a cross-sectional design with convenience sampling, a sample of 270 mobile webpages with information on 12 common health conditions was generated for analysis, they were categorised based on design and position of information display. Results The results showed that 71.48% of webpages were mobile-friendly but only 15.93% were mobile-friendly webpages designed in a way to optimise readability, with a paging format and queried information displayed for immediate viewing. Conclusion With inadequate evidence and lack of consensus on how webpage design can best promote reading and comprehension, it is difficult to draw a conclusion on the effect of current mobile health information presentation on readability. So what? Building mobile-responsive websites should be a priority for health information providers and policy-makers. Research efforts are urgently required to identify how best to enhance readability of mobile health information and fully capture the capabilities of mobile phones as a useful device to increase health literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]