Health Literacy Implications for Older Adults: Essentials for Physical Therapy Practitioners and Other Healthcare Professionals

Delivery of health information and services requires health literacy practices for older adults to transform information into action. The Healthy People Initiative 2030 calls for health literacy to be a central focus of care. Essential health literacy tools include the use of Teach-Back, Show-Me, and other strategies to improve communication and collaboration. Health information is often complex for older adults with multiple health conditions. Appropriately pairing patient needs with health information calls for therapeutic awareness and collaborative communication skills. Health literacy improvement may improve functional outcomes, prevent falls, and build wellness and resilience in older adults. With any patient (client), there are risks for misunderstanding health information and lack of action. Anticipating and recognizing health literacy gaps and barriers is a critical skill and knowledge area for health care providers working with older adults by tailoring interventions to enhance motivation. By addressing the literacy needs of older adults, adherence to rehabilitation recommendations for physical therapy has the potential to improve functional mobility and quality of life. OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this monograph, the course participant will be able to: 1. Define health literacy, the health promotion relationship and factors affecting health literacy levels including education, age, and culture. 2. Describe the role of promoting health literacy to patients by physical therapists, physical therapist assistants (PT(A)s), health professionals, and society. 3. Apply health literacy examination and intervention strategies for aging vision, hearing, cognition, and motor learning abilities that allows older adults to act on their own self-care. 4. Evaluate and adapt written and verbal materials with health literacy tools to meet the individual learning challenges of older adult patients with senescent changes. 5. Apply the concepts of value-added health literacy universal precautions and health education principles to support older adult practice goals and adherence. 6. Incorporate health literacy communication strategies including careful listening, plain language, encouraging questions, and applying Teach-Back. 7. Select effective patient education strategies, based on literacy level, and adherence barriers, for follow-up care, including written instructional materials and materials that incorporate easy to understand information from online resources. 8. Identify technology and social media resources that can bridge the gap for patients to enhance patient care. 9. Discuss the use of virtual visits and best practices to bridge health literacy gaps. 10. Apply knowledge of health literacy to the role of interprofessional care teams in supporting older adult health literacy.