Abstract
Existing studies report a negative association between health literacy and hospital/emergency room use. Despite substantial research on this topic among older Americans, little is known about the link between health literacy and healthcare services use among older Koreans. This study investigates this link, using a sample of 596 adults, 65 and older, from Korea's three largest cities. Andersen's behavior model guided the study. Findings revealed that participants with higher health literacy were significantly less likely to use emergent health services. Enhanced health literacy will likely promote better health outcomes for older Koreans and reduce Korea's healthcare costs.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 467-473 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Social Work in Public Health |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 18 2016 |
Keywords
- Health literacy
- Korean older adults
- health services utilization
- healthcare cost
- quality healthcare