Status and Influencing Factors of Health Information Literacy of the Rural Elderly

Abstract

[Purpose/Significance] In China, the elderly population is huge, and the degree of aging is obviously accelerating. The gap between urban and rural areas is obvious, with the proportion of the elderly population in rural areas being higher than that in urban areas. Along with the accelerating aging process, the health problems faced by the elderly are becoming more and more prominent, and the demand for personal health information literacy will be increasing. Research on health information literacy and health promotion among the elderly, especially the rural elderly, will become an important topic. Therefore, it is important to understand the current situation of health information literacy among rural elderly and explore its influencing factors in order to establish ways and mechanisms to successfully promote health information literacy among rural elderly. [Method/Process] This paper used a mixed approach combining literature review and quantitative research. Firstly, we formulated a questionnaire and proposed a hypothesis on the influence of socio-demographic factors on health information literacy through a review of relevant studies and investigation tools at home and abroad. Then, based on the theoretical model of knowledge, attitudes and behavior and the connotation of health information literacy, we proposed some hypotheses on the interactions between the dimensions of health information literacy. Finally, in the quantitative study, a three-stage sampling was used to conduct a household questionnaire survey of elderly people aged 60 and above in rural areas, and a total of 1 222 valid questionnaires were obtained and the hypothesis testing was performed using regression analysis and path analysis. [Results/Conclusions] The score of health information literacy of rural elderly is lower, the score of health information consciousness dimension is the highest, and the score of health information seeking dimension is the lowest. Education level, time of using smart phones, time of using the Internet, nature of work and health status are the important influencing factors of health information literacy of rural elderly (P<0.05). The most trusted source of health information for rural elderly is medical workers, but they feel it difficult to evaluate and distrust online information. Therefore, strengthening the participation of medical staff in health information literacy education for the elderly and alleviating the conflicts in use of smart phones and the Internet by elderly should be done in order to achieve effective improvement of the health information literacy of the elderly in rural areas. In addition, there are some limitations in this study. The sample size is not large enough, as well as not exploring in depth the factors influencing health information literacy from other factors such as health information behaviors of rural older adults, which will be studied in the future.

Keywords

• rural areas|the elderly|health information literacy|influencing factors