HEALTH LITERACY AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS IN THE ELDERLY

Objectives: To evaluate the Health Literacy degree of the elderly assisted in the Family Health Strategy and to identify its association with age, gender, years of study, chronic diseases, health habits and medications used. Method: A quantitative cross-sectional study with exploratory-descriptive approach, conducted with 350 elderly individuals. An instrument was used to evaluate the Health Literacy and another of socio-demographic and health characterization. Data was collected from July to December 2017. The Chi-square and ANOVA tests were used. Results: Of the 350 elderly individuals, 206 (58.9%) obtained inadequate literacy, 58 (16.6%) marginal and 86 (24.6%) adequate. There was an association between Health Literacy and age and years of schooling (p