Where Low-income Seniors Receive their Heart Health and Diabetes Information: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Background: Older adults (> 55 years), in particular low-income older adults, have lower health literacy than the rest of the Canadian population. Lower health literacy is related to several negative health outcomes such as poor diabetes control and other physical and mental health problems. Canada's rising ageing population requires an age-friendly system that reduces the dependency on the Canadian health care system. This study investigated the Health Information Seeking Behaviour of low-income seniors living in social housing across five Ontario regions to determine how to improve healthcare outcomes and the performance of the Ontario healthcare system.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included in-person interviews guided by the Health Awareness and Behaviour Tool (HABiT) survey. Interviews were conducted with older adults from 16 social housing buildings in five Ontario communities between May 2014 and January 2015. Questionnaire responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and simple logistics regressions.

Results: 625 individuals completed the HABiT survey. The majority of participants sought out health information at the doctor's office; 515 participants received health information from a doctor or nurse about keeping their heart healthy and 471 about preventing diabetes. Females were more than twice as likely to receive health information about heart health from family members, media sources, and pharmacists than males. Those aged > 84 years were the least likely to use media sources and were almost three times as likely to contact a doctor or nurse for heart health information compared to middle-aged participants. Adults with higher post-secondary education were more likely to use the Internet as a source of health information compared to high school graduates.

Conclusions: Family physicians with older adult patients could better supplement their health assessments by promoting and explaining educational brochures, and ensuring that they address these health topics to better communicate chronic disease prevention.