Effect of a community-based participatory health literacy program on health behaviors and health empowerment among community-dwelling older adults: A quasi-experimental study.

This study evaluated the effect of a community-based participatory health literacy program aimed at improving the health behaviors and health empowerment for older adults. A two-group pretest and posttest quasi-experimental design with surveys conducted at baseline (T1), immediately after the intervention (T2), and 6 months after the intervention (T3). The intervention group (n = 94) attended a 12-week health literacy program; while the comparison group (n = 78) did not. The results demonstrated that intervention group had significantly better health behavior practices for weight control (OR = 3.71, 95% CI = 1.59-8.64), regular exercise (OR = 15.26, 95% CI = 1.92-121.13), and health information navigation (OR = 2.61, 95% CI = 1.16-5.84). Health empowerment was significantly higher in the intervention group than the comparison group (p < 0.01).This study suggests that integrating community-based participatory design is effective in improving some health behaviors and health empowerment in older adults over a short period.

Is health literacy associated with greater medical care trust?

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between health literacy and trust in physicians and in the healthcare system. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey of a nationally representative sample of adults. SETTING: Taiwan. PARTICIPANTS: Non-institutionalized adults (N = 2199). MAIN MEASURES: Trust in physicians was a composite measure assessing respondents' general trust in physicians and their perceptions of their physician's communication, medical skills, beneficence, honesty, confidentiality, respect and fairness. Trust in the healthcare system was a single-item measure. Health literacy was measured by four items. RESULTS: Respondents with higher health literacy had, overall, higher levels of trust in physicians (P<0.001) and in the healthcare system (P = 0.04). Health literacy remained significantly and positively associated with trust in physicians (P<0.001) and in the healthcare system (P = 0.001) after adjusting for respondents' sociodemographic characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that health literacy is positively associated with trust. Actionable plans targeting health literacy at the national and local levels to establish a health literate care environment may contribute to enhancing trust in physicians and the healthcare system.

Impact of a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Health Literacy Program on Immigrant Women's Health Literacy, Health Empowerment, Navigation Efficacy, and Health Care Utilization.

We evaluated the effectiveness of a problem-based learning (PBL) health literacy program aimed to improve health literacy, health empowerment, navigation efficacy, and health care utilization among immigrant women in Taiwan. We employed a quasi-experimental design that included surveys at the baseline, immediately after the intervention, and 6 months after the intervention. The intervention group participated in a 10-session PBL health literacy program and the comparison group did not. Results showed that 6 months after the intervention, the intervention group had significantly fewer ER visits and hospitalizations than the comparison group. The intervention group reported a greater decrease in delaying/avoiding health care due to communication barriers. Although the intervention group showed improvement in health literacy, health empowerment and navigation self-efficacy, the differences were not statistically significant. The PBL health literacy program resulted in fewer ER visits and hospitalizations, and better health care access among immigrant women. Cognitive and psychological outcomes examined in the study appeared more difficult to change. The PBL health literacy program effectively improved health care utilization and reduced barriers to health care access among immigrant women in Taiwan. It would be useful to examine the effectiveness of the program in other populations.