Relationship between Health Literacy and the Use of Patient Information Leaflets for Older Adults Who Use Pharmacies

Abstract

In this study, a self-administered anonymous questionnaire study of older adults (over 65 years old) was conducted to investigate the relationship between the constructs of older adults’ awareness of the use of patient information leaflets (PILs) and their health literacy, as well as the relationship with patient background characteristics. On exploratory factor analysis, two factors were extracted: “Knowledge”, which is the awareness of wanting to know specific information about PILs; and “Reliance”, which is the awareness arising from trust in PILs. Multiple regression analysis of the awareness of using PILs showed that “Knowledge” was related to “Critical Health Literacy” and “Communicative Health Literacy”, whereas “Reliance” was related to “Functional Health Literacy” and “Communicative Health Literacy”. These relationships tended to be higher in late-older adults (age > 75 years) than in early-older adults (age 65-75 years), and in females than males. In addition to these two factors, “Anxiety” about using PILs was positively related to “Critical Health Literacy” and negatively related to “Functional Health Literacy”. These findings suggest that pharmacists should provide support for the use of PILs to older adults with low levels of “Communicative Health Literacy” or “Critical Health Literacy”, as well as accurate and easy-to-understand evidence-based information to older adults with high levels of “Critical Health Literacy” or low levels of “Functional Health Literacy” to help prevent excessive anxiety.