Health information literacy and communication in healthcare contexts: a study of older Finnish adults

This paper examines relationships between older adults’ health information literacy, that is, ability to access, evaluate, understand, and use health-related information, and their experiences and perceptions of communication in healthcare contexts. Self-administered questionnaires were in 2011 distributed to 1,000 randomly selected Finns aged 65-79 years. Health information literacy and experiences and perceptions of healthcare communication were assessed by using two tests containing eight statements respectively, to be answered on a Likert-type scale. A standard multiple regression analysis showed that the prediction model was statistically significant for six out of eight communication statements and that health information literacy was the strongest predictor for more positive views of healthcare communication, whereas socio-demographic variables (gender, education level) were minor predictors for three of the statements. The study is the first to empirically show a relationship between health information literacy and communication in healthcare settings.