Abstract
Older adults, identified as 65 years and over, a population for which low health literacy is prevalent, represented the majority of people attending HSE primary care services in 2019. Any limitation in a person’s health literacy, specifically their ability to access, understand and use health information, can affect healthcare related decision-making. Dublin North City and County, Community Healthcare Organisation Area 9 (CHO 9) identified the need to review the evidence for health literacy interventions to inform decision-making and service development to improve outcomes for older people. This work is being undertaken through the academic partnership between DCU, specifically the REACH Collaboratory, and CHO9 and will include engagement with older people and healthcare staff. The result of the first phase of this work is a systematic review, which focuses on health literacy interventions and health literacy-related outcomes for older persons. It was conducted in order to identify what health literacy interventions exist for older adults, what health literacy-related outcomes are achieved from these interventions, and to identify any trends which may exist between intervention type and outcome. The findings show a link between individual-focussed health literacy interventions and positive health literacy-related outcomes in relation to older persons’ ability to understand and use health information, and that individual-focussed health literacy intervention approaches can be utilised by healthcare authorities and providers in order to achieve positive health literacy outcomes for older persons across a wide range of health topics, diseases, and illnesses. The review also evaluated tools used to measure health literacy, as well as the strength of evidence available for each intervention and areas for further research. The next phase will involve a co-creation approach with older people and healthcare staff within CHO9 to enhance existing interventions or to develop new approaches in order to improve health outcomes.