Now, keep up to date
with daily feeds of newly posted stories
about America's Seniors...click on the box
to the left
Study
suggests link between Health Literacy,
Happiness
Newswise — A new University of Alabama at
Birmingham (UAB) study published in the
advanced online edition of the journal
Social Indicators Research suggests a link
between the ease with which older adults can
access and understand health information and
their happiness.
In the study, researchers surveyed 383 older
adults in Alabama ages 50 and up who were
under the care of primary care physicians.
Those surveyed were asked if they could read
and answer questions on medical forms
unassisted and to rate their level of
happiness.
The study found that those with lower levels
of health literacy – those who reported
having the most problems reading and
understanding medical forms – were more than
twice as likely to report being unhappy
regardless of health and socioeconomic
status.
The study suggests that improving older
patients’ ability to obtain health
information might be an important element in
programs aimed at improving wellness and
well-being among older adult patients, say
the study’s lead author, UAB Assistant
Professor of Philosophy and Economics Erik
Angner, Ph.D., and the principal
investigator, UAB Professor Jeroan J.
Allison, M.D., of the Division of
Preventative Medicine.
Health literacy is the degree to which a
person can find and understand basic health
information or access health services.
About half of all Americans, some 90
million, have problems understanding and
using health information, according to a
2004 report by the Institute of Medicine,
“Health Literacy: A Prescription to End
Confusion.” Poor health literacy makes it
harder for patients to follow directions on
medications or provide accurate medical
histories.
An explanation for the study results may
have to do with a sense of control, said
Angner.
That sense, which has been found to be
associated with higher happiness scores in
other studies, might be undermined by
inadequate health literacy.
The study was funded in part by the Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Centers for Education and Research on
Therapeutics cooperative agreement.
About UAB
The UAB School of Arts and Humanities offers
degrees in philosophy, foreign languages,
communication studies and English. Its
Department of Philosophy prepares students
for careers in health care, law, counseling
and many other fields.
The UAB Division of Preventative Medicine is
dedicated to medicine and the health of the
public through research, teaching and the
dissemination and translation of knowledge
for improved health outcomes.
... ..
...
...