The Relationship between Health Literacy and Quality of Life of the Elderly Living in Nursing Homes in Guilan Province in 2020

Health literacy is the capacity of each individual to obtain, interpret and understand the basic information of health services that is necessary for appropriate decision making in this area. Based on this, the researchers decided to conduct a study to investigate the relationship between health literacy and the quality of life of the elderly living in nursing homes in Guilan province in 2020.

The present study is a cross-sectional-analytical study. The statistical population included all the elderly living in nursing homes in Guilan province in 2020. The statistical sample consisted of 89 people from the mentioned statistical population who were selected through Cochran's formula and stratified-random sampling method. Data collection tools included the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HELIA) and the Quality of Life Questionnaire (SF-12). Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 20 and Pearson correlation coefficient, ANOVA, and t-test of two independent samples.

The average health literacy of the elderly is 78.97 with a standard deviation of 5.249%. The average quality of life of the elderly is 37.40 with a standard deviation of 6.645%. The result of the Pearson correlation coefficient test showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the overall score of health literacy level and the overall score of quality of life of the elderly living in nursing homes in Guilan province in 2020. Also, the relationship between health literacy and general comprehension score, physical performance score, physical health score, physical pain score, emotional problems score, social performance score, vitality and vitality score, and mental health score in the elderly living in nursing homes in Guilan province in 2020, There is a positive and meaningful. The results of the analysis of variance showed that there is no significant relationship between health literacy level and quality of life level with age and level of education. The results of the t-test of two independent samples showed that there is no significant difference between health literacy and quality of life of male and female elderly.

By planning and designing useful educational programs in the field of health literacy appropriate for the elderly, and effective step can be taken to develop health literacy skills in society and improve the quality of life of the elderly.