Developing and Promoting Health Literacy of the Elderly with Participation of Local Administrative Organizations, Chachoengsao Province, Thailand

Abstract

This mixed methods research, between qualitative and quantitative approaches, was aimed to study 1) problems, needs, and solutions about health literacy of the elderly with participation of local administrative organizations in Chachoengsao Province, 2) analyzing and determining guidelines for developing and promoting health literacy among the elderly with participation, and 3) the guidelines for developing and promoting health literacy among the elderly with participation of local administrative organizations in Chachoengsao Province. The sample for qualitative approach included elderly people and their families, local administrative organization executives, sub-district health promotion hospital directors, village heads or village chiefs, totaling 73 people. The sample for quantitative approach included 520 elderly people and their families. The tools used were in-depth interviews and questionnaires. The qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis and interpretation while the quantitative data were analyzed in frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, and f-test. The study findings were in the following: 1) Problems, needs, and solutions regarding health literacy of the elderly with participation revealed that the problems stemmed from the elderly's lack of knowledge and understanding about searching and accessing health information through technology, leading to incorrect health care behaviors. The solution was to involve all parties in solving the problem by organizing practical training based on the principles of 3E2C (Eating, Exercise, Emotion, alcohol Consumption, and tobacco Consumption) including cooking experiments and calorie calculations from favorite menus to make it easy to remember and understand self-care and care for others, and to recommend others to keep up with changes for health behavior adjustment affecting quality of life. 2) Analyzing and determining guidelines to develop and promote health literacy of the elderly with participation of local government organizations (LGOs) found that the overall development and promotion of health literacy of the elderly was at a high level, with the highest to lowest mean values being decision-making skills, self-management skills, media literacy skills, access to health information, communication skills, and health knowledge and understanding. Different gender, age, education level, and chronic diseases did not affect the development of health literacy of the elderly in Bang Khla District, Chachoengsao Province. However, marital status, occupation, community position, and years of residence in the community affected the development of health literacy of the elderly in Bang Khla District, Chachoengsao Province, significantly. 3) Guidelines for developing and promoting health literacy among the elderly with participation of LGOs found that after applying the guidelines to develop and promote health literacy of the elderly with LGOs’ participation, the post-development and promotion mean values of health literacy of the elderly were higher than the pre-development and promotion mean values of health literacy of the elderly, resulting in a complete guideline evaluated by experts. This included empowering individuals and communities to feel empowered to control and manage to change their communities, involving all personnel in developing and promoting health literacy of the elderly, including sub-district municipalities, sub-district administrative organizations, health personnel, village heads, elderly people and their families, village health volunteers, and caregivers, to have health literacy in six areas: access to health information, health knowledge and understanding, communication skills, decision-making skills, media literacy skills, and self-management skills. Other agencies could use the results to formulate policies to drive health literacy in the elderly by instilling health behaviors through activities, promoting new knowledge and extending the guidelines to the national and international levels.