Bourne Paul A, Morris Chloe, Charles Christopher Ad, Eldemire-Shearer Denise, Kerr-Campbell Maureen D, Crawford Tazhmoye V
Department of Community Health and Psychiatry.
Patient Relat Outcome Meas. 2010 Jul;1:39-49. doi: 10.2147/prom.s11141. Epub 2010 May 26.
Health literacy is a measure of the patient's ability to read, comprehend and act on medical instructions. This research article examines health literacy and health-seeking behaviors among elderly men in Jamaica, in order to inform health policy. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. A 133-item questionnaire was administered to a random sample of 2,000 men, 55 years and older, in St Catherine, Jamaica. In this study, 56.9% of urban and 44.5% of rural residents were health literate. Only 34.0% of participants purchased medications prescribed by the medical doctor and 19.8% were currently smoking. Despite the reported good self-related health status (74.4%) and high cognitive functionality (94.1%) of the older men, only 7.9% sought medical care outside of experiencing illnesses. Thirty-seven percent of rural participants sought medical care when they were ill compared with 31.9% of their urban counterparts. Thirty-four percent of the participants took the medication as prescribed by the medical doctor; 43% self-reported being diagnosed with cancers such as prostate and colorectal in the last 6 months, 9.6% with hypertension, 5.3% with heart disease, 5.3% with benign prostatic hyperplasia, 5.3% with diabetes mellitus, and 3.8% with kidney/bladder problems. Approximately 14% and 24% of the participants indicated that they were unaware of the signs and symptoms of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, respectively. The elderly men displayed low health literacy and poor health-seeking behavior. These findings can be used to guide the formulation of health policies and intervention programs for elderly men in Jamaica.
健康素养是衡量患者阅读、理解医疗指示并据此行动的能力。这篇研究文章考察了牙买加老年男性的健康素养和就医行为，以便为卫生政策提供信息。这是一项描述性横断面研究。对牙买加圣凯瑟琳区随机抽取的2000名55岁及以上男性进行了一项包含133个条目的问卷调查。在这项研究中，56.9%的城市居民和44.5%的农村居民具备健康素养。只有34.0%的参与者购买医生开的药，19.8%的人目前吸烟。尽管报告显示老年男性的自我健康状况良好（74.4%）且认知功能较高（94.1%），但只有7.9%的人在没有患病时寻求医疗护理。37%的农村参与者在生病时寻求医疗护理，而城市参与者这一比例为31.9%。34%的参与者按医生的处方服药；43%的人自我报告在过去6个月被诊断患有前列腺癌和结直肠癌等癌症，9.6%患有高血压，5.3%患有心脏病，5.3%患有良性前列腺增生，5.3%患有糖尿病，3.8%患有肾脏/膀胱问题。分别约有14%和24%的参与者表示他们不知道高血压和糖尿病的症状。老年男性的健康素养较低，就医行为较差。这些研究结果可用于指导牙买加老年男性卫生政策和干预项目的制定。
